Enchanted Sleep
by Silvanon of the Orchard
Summary: Inuyasha is betrothed to a cursed princess, but no one knows where she is. Kagome is just a simple peasant girl trying to make her way in the worldor is she? It's Sleeping Beauty with an Inuyasha twist! [Inu x Kag]
1. Betrothed

Hi all! This is my first attempt at a fan fiction. I haven't seen this idea done before, but with how many Inuyasha stories there are out there, it probably has been done. Hopefully I'll be able to make the story unique enough not to step on anyone's toes.

My very first disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters therein!

Ooo...I feel so special now!

On to the story!

o

o

o

o

Chapter 1: Betrothed

o

o

"Inuyasha!"

Five-year-old Inuyasha carefully held his ears steady as he ignored his father's call. He continued playing with the ant he'd found, letting it wander a little before strategically placing his finger in its path, forcing it in a new direction. It was hard to concentrate on both the ant and his ear, though, and the ant was getting away. Inuyasha let it go, choosing to concentrate on the more important matter of his ear. If his ears held steady, his father wouldn't know that he'd heard.

"Inuyasha, I know you can hear me. Come, it's time to go!"

Inuyasha sighed and straightened up from his squatting position. "But I don't wanna go!" he pouted, looking over his shoulder to where his father stood waiting.

"Come!" his father barked at him, and Inuyasha sullenly started moving. He scowled, crossing his arms over his chest and putting his hands into his sleeves in his best adult-pose imitation. "I don't want to be engaged to any yucky girl," he muttered to his feet. Ahead of him, Inutaisho paused and shot a sharp glance in the direction of his lagging son. Catching the glance, Inuyasha hurried his steps a little more, still scowling but not daring to complain any further.

The crossed the courtyard and soon arrived at the gate, where Inuyasha's adult brother Sesshoumaru stood holding the reins of two demon mounts. The hard line of Sesshoumaru's mouth only just betrayed his impatience, but Inuyasha took note of it and stopped well short of his brother. His father swung himself up on the back of his two-headed steed and looked down at his son. "Inuyasha, you will ride with Sesshoumaru today. We must observe all the customs today and impress the parents of your bride-to-be. I expect you to be on your best behavior!" A hard look in Sesshoumaru's direction emphasized that the instructions weren't meant for Inuyasha only. Sesshoumaru swallowed the argument he was going to make and helped his clumsy younger brother settle on Ah-Un's back before swinging up himself.

As soon as the two brothers were on Ah-Un, they sprang into the sky, clouds forming around their feet as soon as they left the ground. They rose to a suitable height and then turned towards the Eastern Lands.

Inuyasha's father was Lord of the Western Lands, a fact that Inuyasha was wonderfully proud of. He'd made it his life's mission to brag about it to anyone who would listen. The Eastern Lands were ruled by a human couple, something that Inuyasha couldn't comprehend. Demons were so much stronger than humans, how had a pair of them come to rule? Inuyasha twisted around to look at his brother. "Sesshoumaru, how come demons don't rule the Eastern Lands?"

Sesshoumaru sneered down at him for a moment before deciding to answer. "Humans are populous in the eastern regions, and the demons who live there are weak, so the humans have gained the upper hand for the time being. Perhaps they hope to preserve that upper hand by marrying off the King's daughter to you, but I don't see what benefit they'll gain from tainted half-demon blood."

Inuyasha had been surprised that his older brother actually gave him an answer, so he decided to ignore the insult that unavoidably came with Sesshoumaru speaking to him. Since Sesshoumaru was actually speaking to him rather than ignoring him, Inuyasha decided to hazard another question. "What do the human King and Queen look like?"

"Like humans, of course. They all look the same," Sesshoumaru sneered. Inuyasha opened his mouth to ask another question, but Sesshoumaru cut him off. "You talk too much. Be quiet."

Inuyasha snapped his mouth shut and stared sullenly at Ah-Un's back beneath him. He could feel his ears lying themselves flat against his head, but he didn't care if he looked like he was pouting. He was. Why did Sesshoumaru always have to be so mean to him? He just wanted to know!

Feeling spiteful, Inuyasha started looking for another way to annoy Sesshoumaru. It didn't take him long to settle on his target—Sesshoumaru's long fluffy shoulder fur was right there in front of him, practically slapping him in the face with each gust of wind. When the next breeze brought it close to him, he quickly grabbed hold of it. He didn't dare yank on it; that would really upset Sesshoumaru. Instead, he stealthily began making tiny little braids out of the long hairs. He didn't have anything to tie the ends with, so he knew they would undo themselves fairly quickly. It was enough, though, to placate Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru was very possesive of his shoulder fur and hated for it to be touched. Was he ever going to be mad when he saw what Inuyasha had done to it! He was sure to spend weeks attempted to straighten out invisible kinks in the long soft hairs. Inuyasha stifled a laugh at the thought, not wanting to alert Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru concentrated on sitting straight and guiding Ah-Un. He almost smiled a little when he realized that his cold words had been enough to shut up Inuyasha. Perhaps the little brat was starting to learn his place! Sesshoumaru marveled.

ooooooooooooo

After several hours of flying, the Inutaisho and his two sons finally reached their destination. The Eastern palace was a sprawling building with several different wings. It completely covered the large hilltop it was placed on. A thick stone wall ran around the perimeter of the building, and set into it a huge front gate hung with heavy wooden doors. Even more impressive, the glowing blue of a priestess-formed barrier protected the palace at all times. It was said that the royal family kept upwards of five priestesses on hand at all times solely for this task. As the three demons approached the palace, the sound of a large brass gong rang out. The barrier shimmered and lowered, allowing the demons to pass. As soon as they were inside, it sprang back into place over their heads.

As soon as Ah-Un's feet touched the ground, Inuyasha vaulted off and scampered over to hide behind his father's legs. Sesshoumaru watched him with considerable surprise. That is, until he caught sight of the tail end of his shoulder fur, covered in tiny braids up as high as Inuyasha could reach. His eyes widened in shock, staying that way for a comically long time. Then they narrowed in anger. He wheeled back towards Inuyasha, his eyes going ever-so-slightly red.

Inuyasha laughed from behind his father, and bared his baby fangs at his brother. Sesshoumaru would never dare do anything here! It would embarrass Father, and that's one thing Sesshoumaru knew not to do. With a silent snarl Sesshoumaru turned away, and began the task of unbraiding his fur. Inuyasha nearly fell over laughing.

He really did fall over when someone suddenly addressed him.

"And you must be Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha hurriedly scrambled to his feet, ignoring the smirk Sesshoumaru was sending his way. "Clumsy half-breed," he heard his brother say under his breath. Inutaisho heard it too, and shot a warning glance at his older son.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha was trying to escape the strange human lady. She'd gotten halfway through her apology for scaring him when she'd caught sight of his ears. She was now latched onto them, rubbing enthusiastically and cooing things like "Aren't you so cute! Aren't your ears just adorable!"

At first, Inuyasha had frozen in horror. Now he was just trying to get away without getting his ears ripped off. He was rescued by another human. "My dear, I'm sure he's just as cute as you say, but I don't think he appreciates the violation of personal space," the man said.

"Oh, my, yes," the crazy lady said, and finally let go of Inuyasha's ears. "I'm sorry, Prince Inuyasha, I apologize." The woman made a small bow to him, and next to him Inutaisho gave a small start and returned the bow.

It dawned on Inuyasha that he was being addressed by the Queen. Suddenly anxious, he studied her thoroughly. She hadn't made a good first impression with him, but as he scrutinized her, he realized that she had a kind face. It was almost enough to make him trust her, if he hadn't already learned better. Anyway, she probably wasn't crazy like he first thought.

Inuyasha turned his attention to the man who had saved him. He had spoken so casually to the Queen, Inuyasha was certain he must be her husband. The King's face was not as soft as his wife's, but his eyes sparkled with good humor. He wasn't nearly as sophisticated or as awesome as his father, or even Sesshoumaru, but Inuyasha decided he was okay for a human.

Inutaisho was talking to the King and Queen, something about "happiest of days," and "blessed event," and "union of great advantage to all." Inuyasha didn't really understand it all, so he simply wiggled his toes and waited for his father to finish. After awhile the Queen invited them to come inside and rest before the celebration began. She motioned for a servant to lead them to their rooms, and then she turned away.

It occurred to Inuyasha that he hadn't yet seen the baby. Shouldn't the Queen have had the baby with her? Inuyasha turned to watch the Queen leave. She walked to a nearby door leading into the castle. The door opened, and Inuyasha saw that a servant had been waiting just inside. The servant handed the Queen something wrapped in a large pink blanket. Filled with curiosity, Inuyasha left his father's side and trotted over to the Queen. He reached the Queen's side and, reaching up, tugged on one sleeve. "Is that your baby?" he asked, staring up at her with wide round eyes.

The Queen looked down at the adorable little puppy-eared boy, and smiled. "Yes, this is my baby." She leaned down and tipped the bundle slightly, giving Inuyasha a view of a tiny face surrounded by pink. "Inuyasha, meet Kikyo."

o

o

o

o

o

And there you have it! My first chapter. Please feel free to drop me a line and let me know how you liked it! Suggestions for things I can do better will also be appreciated!


	2. Cursed

I decided since I left last chapter where I did, that I'd better try to get this chapter out quickly and clear up a few things. Many, many thanks to all of you who reviewed the first chapter! 

Disclaimer: Inuyasha isn't mine. Le sigh.

* * *

Chapter 2: Cursed 

Inyuasha carefully tried to stretch the muscles in his legs without being too noticeable. He was standing on his father's right side, while Sesshoumaru stood on the the left. On Inuyasha's other side stood King and Queen Higurashi, with Kikyo in her cradle between them. They had been standing like this for nearly two hours now, on display for the many nobles who had come to pay their respects to the royal families. Inuyasha was heartily tired of it all. Why such a fuss over a little baby? Even if she was a princess. Inuyasha was sure that no one had made half so much fuss when he was born. This was just dumb. Inutaisho had threatened him with "dire punishment" if he cause a disturbance, though, so for now Inuyasha was on his best behavior. He quietly shifted his weight back onto his other leg. 

To Inuyasha's thinking, the only good thing about his predicament was that their place gave him a great view of the royal priestesses, situated on the dais just below their own. Amazingly, the rumors had actually understated how many priestesses the Higurahsi family kept. There were a full twelve women in the group. Inuyasha was thoroughly impressed. He had always been forbidden to associate with any priestesses, which of course made them objects of great interest to him. He wondered with active curiosity what a priestess could do that would cause his father to forbid contact with them. He was even more intrigued when he saw how uncomfortable Sesshoumaru was to be so near them (not that Sesshoumaru looked uncomfortable to the untrained eye, but Inuyasha was an expert in these matters.) 

All the priestesses wore the same red and white garb. Most of them looked more-or-less the same to Inuyasha (guess Sesshoumaru was right about humans all looking the same), but Inuyasha could tell one of them from the others. Most of the women were young, with smooth faces and long dark hair. However, the leader of the priestess group was an older woman, face lined with wrinkles and body hunched with age. To Inuyasha, she looked ancient. He wondered how many thousands of years old she must be, to look so strange. Why, his father was already 1500 years old, and he didn't look nearly that old! Even more fascinating was when she turned around, and he could see that she had one eye missing, a black patch taking it's place. If not for his father's strict edict on appropriate behavior, Inuyasha would have immediately gone to investigate the strange woman further. 

After a few minutes more of staring at the priestesses longingly, Inuyasha noticed that they were grouping together a little more tightly. Together they approached the King and Queen, their steps carefully coordinated and solemn with ceremony. The buzz of chatter in the giant room died down to a low hum as the attending crowd took notice of the proceeding. Inuyasha noticed that his father's attention wasn't on him, so he took the opportunity to shuffle a bit and get a better view. The old woman was at the head of the column of priestesses. When she reached the top of the steps leading to the King and Queen's dais, she bowed to them. The King and Queen returned the bow, and Inuyasha heard the King murmur "Lady Kaede" as he did so. 

As the Higurashis straitened, the priestess Kaede turned to face the crowd. "As the sacred priestesses of the Royal Family Higurashi, we would each like to give the new Princess a special gift," she announced. 

Inuyasha pricked his ears, eager to see what kind of gift the strange old lady would give. To his disappointment, she moved off to one side, letting the priestess behind her approach the baby first. The younger woman stood by the side of the cradle, one hand hovering over the baby, and turned to face the crowd. "To the Princess Kikyo, I give the gift of song. Her voice will enchant all who hear her sing!" As she said this, her hand lit with a strange pink glow. Tiny glimmering bits of pink drifted down to settle over the infant below. 

Inuyasha wrinkled his nose. What kind of gift was that! Who cared about being able to sing? What sort of silly women were these priestesses anyway? 

The first gift giver finished whatever she was doing, and moved away. The next priestess in line took her place, and the process was repeated. "Cheeks like roses?" Inuyasha thought to himself incredulously. Why not give her something useful, like sword skills or quicker sight? Inuyasha wasn't just bored, he was disgusted. What a waste of a perfectly good opportunity to get something good! He just hoped the rest of the priestesses did better. 

Inuyasha's hopes were not born out. The rest of the women gave equally absurd gifts. Inuyasha could feel his awe of the priestesses slipping away. Finally there was only old Kaede left to give her gift. She approached baby Kikyo, and Inuyasha's stomach clenched in anticipation and something like fear. Surely at least the old woman would not disappoint him! 

The old woman stationed herself next to the cradle, one hand hovering over it like the other women had done, and she opened her mouth to speak. 

The ground rumbled. 

Suddenly all the lights went out. There wasn't even the smell of smoke that comes with extinguishing a torch. It was like the entire room had suddenly been whisked away into a new dimension where fire and light didn't even exist. 

People cried out in fear as the ground shook harder. Inuyasha felt someone stumble against him in the dark. He cried out and began groping around, trying to locate his father or brother. Instead he encountered the royal cradle, which he clung to in desperation. 

The ground stopped shaking. Inuyasha stared around blindly, stretching his young senses to try and figure out what had just happened. 

A voice spoke, smooth and sinister. 

"I was very displeased when I was not invited to come," said the voice. "At first I thought it must have been a mere oversight. After all, humans are not particularly known for considering demons in their guest-lists. But then I learned that Inutaisho and his two sons were invited. My close neighbors invited, and not a word to me! But you see, I have decided to grace you with my presence just the same." 

Inuyasha shuddered involuntarily at the words. He hadn't yet placed the speaker's voice, but the malice in it made him afraid for the royal eastern family. 

"And look!" the voice continued, "I've even brought a gift for the Princess!" At these words, a faint glow appeared near the center of the room. The humans near it quickly drew back, leaving a wide open space around the menacing man. Inuyasha saw that the light came from some small round jewel the man had in his hand. The light of the jewel illuminated the man's face. 

"Naraku!" the Queen hissed in horror. 

Naraku let a small and mocking smile cross his face as he looked at the distraught queen. "I'm glad you recognize me," he said. "You'll know who to send the thank-you note to." With this, he raised the jewel over his head. "The Shikon Jewel," he explained to the cowering throng. His fist tightened around the orb, and in the silence the sound of crystal breaking echoed clearly through the hall. 

"Crack!" and again "crack!" With a final belled tone, the jewel shattered. A thousand streaks of light shot out from the now-closed fist raised over Naraku's head, each fragment of the jewel taking it's own path away from it's brothers. 

The last light died away, plunging the hall back into darkness and silence. 

"This is my gift to the Princess Kikyo. On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on the end of a shikon jewel shard, and will fall into the sleep of death!" 

oooooooooooooooo 

The palace was in turmoil. Half the guests had wanted to leave immediately, too hurried to even offer condolences to the royal family before fleeing the cursed scene. The other half seemed to terrified to even move, and were mostly still cowering in the same places, acting as if they were still in the dark, and Naraku still among them. 

As soon as light had been restored to the palace, it had been thoroughly searched. No sign of Naraku was found, or how he had entered the palace in the first place. The priestesses had tripled the strength of the barrier around the castle. 

Inuyasha was still standing next to the cradle of the princess, who strangely seemed almost forgotten in her parent's rush to secure their home. He stared down at her, pitying the poor little thing. It didn't even occur to him that this curse would free him from his hated engagement. He shifted a little as he felt the presence of his older brother come up behind him. Sesshoumaru also stared down at the little princess. When he spoke, though, it was of something else. "The Shikon Jewel is very powerful. Shikon shards scattered over Japan are sure to wreak havoc, so someone will have to gather them and keep them out of wrong hands." Inuyasha glanced up, and saw that Sesshoumaru was looking down at him in clear amusement. "Looks like you have your work cut out for you, little brother." 

ooooooooooooooo 

Later that evening, Kaede made her way to her Queen's apartments. She knocked gently on the door and announced herself. Almost immediately the door slid back, revealing the Queen tenderly holding her daughter. Kaede noted with pity the Queen's red-rimmed eyes. 

"Lady Kaede," the Queen said, and Kaede admired the fortitude that kept her voice so steady. "Please come in." 

Kaede slowly entered the room, and took a seat when the Queen motioned her to do so. "Please Kaede," she said, and this time her voice wavered. "Tell me you have some comfort to offer in these evil times." 

Nearly moved to tears, Kaede reached out to hug her Queen. "Please, Kaede! I don't know who else to turn to!" the distraught mother cried. "I don't want to lose my only child! And we've wanted a child for so long!" The words dissolved into sobbing. 

Kaede let her friend cry for awhile, knowing the tears were necessary. After awhile the Queen made an effort to control her shaking body, and Kaede decided it was time to offer the small hope she had come to give. "My Lady, all is not lost." Watery eyes lifted to meet her own. She winced a little at the desperation in them, but continued. "I have not yet given my gift to the Princess." She hurried on, not wanting to install false hope, "Please understand, I cannot undo what Naraku has done. I have not nearly the power for that. I will do what I can." 

Queen Higurashi nodded, and handed her daughter to Kaede without hesitation. "Please do all you can for my daughter." 

Kaede held her hand over the infant and gathered together her power. She knew that she would need everything she could, and she strained to gather every ounce of power she could muster. Her hand began glowing immediately, but before she was done it had spread to her entire body. Bathed in crackling pink light, she gave Kikyo her gift. 

"Little Princess," she started, "This gift I give: Upon the prick declared by Fate, you shall not die, but merely sleep. True love's kiss the spell will break." 

Swirls of pink light enveloped the Princess, wrapping about her and caressing her tender skin. The baby stirred briefly, waving a small fist before subsiding again into peaceful slumber. Kaede slumped over, exhausted from the effort. After a moment, she handed the infant back to her mother. "That is all I can do with my own powers," she announced. 

"Thank you, Kaede," the Queen whispered fervently, holding her daughter close. "I don't know how to thank you." 

Kaede lifted her head and looked the Queen in the eye. "I have somewhat more to say," she stated. "Naraku is sure to learn that his evil curse has been altered. He will do all in his power to destroy the Princess by other means." 

The Queen froze, then nodded. After a moment, she hesitatingly asked, "What do you suggest we do?" 

oooooooooooooooooo 

A lonely figure of an old woman exited the palace through a humble side door. She was dressed in near-rags, and she carried only a small traveling bag by way of supplies. Her figure was so hunched over that anyone observing her would have been hard pressed to make out the small bundle she carried in her arms. 

The figure immediately struck out into the nearby woods, following a little used path. She hummed a little to herself, but the melody was sad. 

The woman traveled until it was dark, and then settled herself against a tree's roots for the night. She tenderly adjusted the bundle she carried, until she could see a tiny face peeking out from within the layers of blankets. 

"Well, little one. You shall have to have a new name for your new life," the woman told the infant. "Hum...I think," she paused. "I think I shall call you Kagome."

* * *

I hope you have enjoyed this installment of Enchanted Sleep! And for those of you who were wondering when Kagome would come in, I hope you'll forgive me if I was a bit confusing in the first chapter. It just kind of needed to be that way. 

Please feel free to drop a review and let me know what you think! Helpful criticisms are always welcome!


	3. An Unusual Offer

Alright, here's another Chapter! Many thanks again to those who reviewed! I didn't expect to see so many reviews considering this is a new story from a new author. Thanks for making my day, everyone! I appreciate the comments, suggestions and encouragement! In answer to some of the questions asked, yes, this will be a Kagome/Inuyasha fic. As for how long it usually takes me to get chapters out, I'm not quite sure since this is my first attempt at any kind of story in a long time. I'm hoping to do more-or-less a chapter a week, though. 

Disclaimer: Inuyasha no pertenece a mí.!

* * *

Chapter 3: An Unusual Offer 

Kagome hummed to herself as she traveled through the woods. She felt particularly happy today. It had been awhile since Kaede had let her leave the secluded little forest hut they shared to visit the nearby village. Generally Kagome's training schedule was far too intense to allow for visiting the village merely for pleasure. By and large Kagome felt content with the life she led. Still, it was nice to get out and see people every once in awhile, so Kagome made the most of the few opportunities she had to do so. 

Perhaps if Kagome's nature was a little less forgiving, or Kaede's personality a little less kind, Kagome would have ended up resenting her guardian. No ill will existed between them, however, and Kagome truly wanted to fulfill Kaede's expectations. 

Wanting and doing seemed to be two different things in Kagome's case, however. Certainly she could purify things, and she was even decent with a bow and arrow. But that was about it. She couldn't heal people, couldn't form a barrier at will, couldn't even repulse an evil spell most of the time. In short, she demonstrated little of the great potential Kaede always said she had. 

Why Kaede continued teaching her was something of a mystery to Kagome. As the years past, Kagome advanced little in her destined profession. However, Kaede only seemed to grow more determined to teach her. Their training schedule grew more and more rigorous, demanding more and more of Kagome's time and efforts. In her more cynical moments, Kagome half thought that Kaede only persisted because it kept Kagome away from the village. In her better moments, Kagome remembered that Kaede had taken her in as an orphan child, and was grateful to her guardian for the love that made her persist in trying to teach Kagome a useful trade. Little though she had seen the outside world, Kagome still understood what would happen to her if she couldn't keep herself after Kaede was gone. 

She remembered very well the day that Kaede had decided to start training her. She had been about six years old at the time, and that particular day she had shirked her chores to sneak into the village. She wasn't trying to make Kaede worry, she just wanted to play with the other children. She snuck into the village often enough then that some of the kids had started to recognize her and remember her name. They played with her and she enjoyed it, but they also teased her about her strange lifestyle. One little boy (Hojo, she thought his name was?) had even came up with the idea that maybe she was the lost princess Kikyo, in hiding from the evil demon Naraku. Kagome just laughed about it now, but somehow when she was six, she had taken that as a terrible insult. What a scene that must have been for Kaede to walk into-her little foster daughter, standing on top of a hill, surrounded by taunting children, screaming at the top of her voice that she was _NOT_ Kikyo. Kaede had been unusually silent and worried on their walk home, and before the day was out she had announced that Kagome was to learn the skills of a priestess. 

"Ah well," Kagome shook herself out of her reflections. "Just thinking about training isn't going to make me a Priestess!" She quickened her steps. 

ooooooooooooooo 

Inuyasha was not having a good day. He hadn't even been looking for jewel shards this trip, but one seemed to have found him, just the same. He could tell from long experience that this centipede demon had one. The things just weren't normally this aggressive, or this hard to kill. Inuyasha lunged sideways as the centipede swung it's ugly head, pincered mouth gaping wide, towards where he had been standing. He took a swipe at it with his claws as it narrowly missed him, but he only grazed the thing's skin. Definitely not a good day. 

Inuyasha jumped back, out of striking range, and decided that now was as good a time as any to try out his new weapon. With a flourish he pulled Tetsusaiga out of it's sheath, and shifted his body into an attack stance. Both the sword and the centipede seemed to have other ideas, however. Tetsusaiga spectacularly failed to transform when Inuyasha unsheathed it, and while he was busy shaking it and otherwise trying to coerce it into transformation, the centipede took off. 

"Grrrr...what's the matter with this stupid thing?" Inuyasha snarled. Then, "Hey, where do you think you're going!" He took after the centipede, determined not to let it get away now that it had ruined his day. 

The centipede moved incredibly fast for something so bulky. It nimbly darted between trees as it raced away from him. Inuyasha followed it, just as fast. He gained on it quickly, but caught up to it quicker than he had expected to, as it abruptly stopped. "Aahhhh!" a feminine scream rang out. 

"Oh just great," Inuyasha rolled his eyes and complained to himself. "This is just what I need." He put on a burst of speed, and got himself ahead of the centipede just in time to rescue the girl from a grizzly death. He set her down nearby and took a quick look at her, immediately noticing her clothing. "Hey, you're a priestess, right? So help me out here!" 

The girl looked surprised and began stammering, but Inuyasha didn't have time to stay and listen to her. The centipede was already headed in their direction. "Awe, never mind. Just stay put, I'll take care of this," he growled out to her. 

He drew Tetsusaiga again, not because he thought he could do anything useful with the rusty piece of junk, but because it had seemed to scare the centipede before. Which is why he stared in shock when it suddenly pulsed in his hands, and then transformed. Two seconds he stared, and on the third the centipede slammed into him. As he was thrown to the side, he saw the girl behind him get hit as well. She hit the ground hard, and rolled to a stop. The centipede turned itself to attack her again. Angry now, Inuyasha leapt up and lunged at the centipede, Tetsusaiga in full swing. A quick slice and a neat landing latter, and the centipede lay dead behind him. 

Slowly he straitened. He turned to the girl, who was now standing and dusting herself off. "Hey, you okay?" he asked? 

The girl seemed to have forgotten his presence, as she gave a small start when he spoke. "Oh, heh. Yeah, I'm fine." Finishing her self inspection, she moved towards him. "Wow, you really took care of that demon." She peered around him at the mess that had been the centipede. Suddenly she yelped, a high shrill sound, and Inuyasha winced. "It, it's still moving!" she shuddered, pointing. 

Inuyasha casually turned and looked. "Of course it is. Demons with shikon jewel shards will always regenerate." He strolled over to the twitching body and began poking at it. "The trick is to find and remove the shard while they're down." 

"Oh," the girl said, suddenly businesslike. "I can probably help with that. Let's see here..." 

Inuyasha snorted in disbelief. "What do you think you're doing? It takes an incredibly high level priestess to sense jewel shards. You're obviously not powerful enough." 

The girl ignored him, continuing to peer around at the centipede corpse like she really expected to see something. After an irritatingly short moment, she exclaimed. "Ah! There it is!" She pointed towards an unremarkable middle area of the centipede. Inuyasha crossed his arms and shoved his hands into his sleeves, waiting for her to realize her mistake. Instead, the girl walked over to the portion of centipede she'd indicated, and extracted a shikon jewel shard. Inuyasha immediately huffed and turned his back to her, not wanting to let her see how his jaw was trying to drop. 

"Well, if you're that great, then why did you act so stupid in the battle just now. A priestess of your caliber shouldn't have had a problem taking out a low level demon like that!" 

A moment passed. Inuyasha heard a sniff. Then a way-too-cheerful voice spoke. "Yeah, you're right. I'm just a silly girl and not really a priestess at all! I mean, I've been training practically my whole life, and still about all I can do is purify things. I can't even control that, it just happens on it's own. Pretty pathetic, huh." 

Inuyasha turned and saw the wide fake grin plastered on her face, saw the way the eyebrows twitched like they wanted to pull together into a frown, and took a step back. "Uh, uh...look, I didn't mean anything by what I said, okay. So just forget about it." 

The girl blinked, the smile slipping off her face. She still held back the tears, but Inuyasha could sense them trying to get out. Nearly in a panic, he continued babbling. "Trust me, the skills you have are great. I hunt jewel shards for a living, and it's a real pain trying to figure out where each demon hid it's shard. I could really use someone with skills like yours. In fact, why don't you join me?" 

The threat of tears receded, and Inuyasha breathed a sigh of relief. Then he realized what he'd just said, and nearly choked. Why in the world had he said that?!? He didn't want along some stupid girl who didn't even know how to handle herself in a fight! 

Internally quaking in fear, Inuyasha looked at the girl. Maybe he'd get lucky and she'd say no. But, with the kind of luck he'd been having lately... 

ooooooooooooooooo 

Kagome was thoroughly surprised at the strange boy's offer. He'd sounded sincere about it. Could anyone really value her measly skills that much? If she really could be of help to him, then maybe she should go. It'd be a way to finally use something of what she'd been learning. And besides, what occupation could be more fitting for a priestess than hunting shikon jewel shards? It was certainly getting to be time that Kagome find her calling in life. 

Still, Kagome hesitated. Kaede was sure to object. For one thing, she hadn't finished her training yet. For another, Kaede didn't even like Kagome _talking_ to strangers. She'd never approve of Kagome running off with one. 

But how could Kagome turn down someone who said he needed her, and who'd just saved her life? Kagome looked at him, standing there waiting for his answer. He was practically trembling, obviously worried that she might turn him down. Kagome knew she couldn't tell him no. Sighing a little to herself, she looked down, and carefully told her shoes "Okay, I'll go with you." 

The boy let out a breath that sounded suspiciously like a heavy sigh. Kagome looked up at him, surprised. He didn't seem nearly as happy as she'd thought he'd be. In fact, for a moment, he seemed almost upset. But Kagome blinked, and the next second he was all indifference. "Fine. Great. Go home and pack, you can meet me back here in an hour." 

"Oh, okay," Kagome stammered. "Sure." She turned to go, but then glanced down at her hand. She was still holding the shard she'd taken out of that centipede. She noted with satisfaction the tell-tell white color of purification. "Here," she handed it to him. 

"Hey," the boy looked down at it. "You really can purify. So maybe that wasn't a lucky guess when you found that shard." He sounded amazed. 

"What's that suppose to mean?" Kagome asked, outraged. "Weren't you just telling me how you needed me and all? If you didn't believe I could see the shard, then why did you invite me along?" 

Instead of answering her, the boy jumped up into a nearby tree, where he settled himself on a branch. "You'd better get going," he told her, voice full of cocky attitude. "You've only got an hour to get ready." 

Kagome huffed in anger. She returned back to the path she'd been forced to abandon earlier and proceeded to stomp her way home. Who did that guy think he was, anyway? Ha! He'd just see how well his little stunt had convinced her to come back! If she was lucky, he'd spend the whole night waiting for her. Stupid stuck up jerk!

* * *

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! If you liked it, or if you didn't, I hope you'll leave me a line. I'd love to know what you think! Thanks all! 


	4. Time for a Change

Hi all! I'm back with another chapter! We're going to get some more dialog with Kaede in this chapter. You know, it's always bugged me how they have Kaede talk in the dub. Not because she uses Old English, but because she uses it improperly. "Ye" is plural! If you are talking to one person, you should use either "you" or "thou." Makes me grit my teeth every time she's talking to just one person and she calls them "ye." I know I'm probably the only one who's bothered by that aspect of it. Anyways, Kaede speaks in normal modern English for this story. 

Disclaimer: Inuyasha isn't mine. (If it was, Kaede wouldn't use mutilated Old English.)

* * *

**Chapter 4: Time for a Change**

Kagome reached home in record time. The house was a small one-room dwelling, nestled in a tiny clearing in the middle of the forest. The wooden walls of the structure were well weathered and marked with age, but the roof was newly redone (Kagome had spent several weeks of labor re-doing it last summer, after a particularly bad rainstorm had left them wet inside and out.) A tiny well was located to one side of the house, and on the other side was the fire pit where they did most of their cooking through the summer months. Most people would call it a lowly hut, but to Kagome it was home. 

She paused at the tree line, unwilling to enter the clearing until she'd gotten control over her anger. Kaede always said that a priestess should be calm and collected at all times, and Kagome had been anything but calm and collected the past hour. Kagome closed her eyes and concentrated on taking long, slow breaths. Slowly her heart stopped beating so rapidly, and the scowl relaxed off her face. She was almost there, when a snippet of conversation floated through her brain. "You really can purify. So maybe that wasn't a lucky guess when you found that shard." The scowl was instantly back, accompanied by clenched teeth, and trembling fists. That stupid boy made her so mad! 

"Kagome, I did not expect you back so soon. Come here, child. What's the matter?" 

Kagome jerked out of her thoughts, realizing she'd been so concentrated on her angry feelings that she hadn't heard Kaede approach. "Oh! Hello Kaede. Yes, I'm back." With a small smile at her surrogate mother, Kagome moved towards the house. "Let's talk inside." 

Kaede gave a worried look at her charge, but followed the girl inside without another word. Once inside they both settled themselves on the floor in sitting position. "Now," Kaede began, "what happened at the village today to get you so dirty and so riled up?" 

"Oh," exclaimed Kagome, now realizing what Kaede thought, "it wasn't anything that happened at the village. Everyone there was wonderful. Thank you so much for letting me go today." 

Kaede nodded, accepting Kagome's answer. "Well then, what did happen to make you so angry?" 

"You see," Kagome explained, "I was about half way home, when I was attacked by a centipede demon. It came up very fast, much faster than I've ever seen one move. I barely had time to realize it was coming before it was on me. I didn't have any time to get out of its way." 

"A demon in our forest?" Kaede said, worried. "I thought I had taken care of all the demons around here long ago. We will have to start patrolling again, it seems." 

Kagome grimaced. She'd hated it back when Kaede had patrolled the forest. She hated being left alone in their little house while the only mother she knew was out facing the dangers of wild demons. Once or twice she'd attempted to follow Kaede, convinced she could stay out of the way. It only took a couple times of nearly getting them both killed to convince her it was better to stay at home. By the time Kagome was big enough to be of some help, Kaede had already cleared out the demon population in their area. 

Kagome's thoughts were pulled back into the present as Kaede continued. "You did well to face that demon alone, Kagome. I'm very proud of you." 

Kagome blushed, knowing she didn't deserve the praise. "Oh, um, no. I wasn't exactly alone, you know. There was this boy following the centipede. He saved me from it, actually. I didn't do anything except get thrown around." Kagome dropped her head, ashamed. Kaede had so much confidence in her, and she didn't deserve any of it. 

"A boy?" Kaede asked, startled. "A human boy?" 

"You know, now that you mention it, I don't think he was human," Kagome mused. "He had fangs and claws. You don't usually see those on humans. Plus he had the cutest little ears on top of his head, like a dog or cat's ears." 

Kaede's body jerked. "Dog ears, you say?" Kagome nodded. Kaede looked still more surprised. "And did this boy, did he have white hair and golden eyes?" 

Kagome again nodded. "Yes, he did. Do you know him?" 

Kaede sat back, shaking her head in wonder. "Well. Well. Who would have thought. Fate _is_ a funny thing," she mused to herself. 

Kagome scowled, remembering again how the boy had treated her. "I must say I don't think much of him. He was positively rude to me when I helped him find the shikon jewel shard," she complained. 

Kagome heard a gasp, and looked up to see Kaede's face gone completely white. She raised one shaking hand towards Kagome. "The creature had a shard of the shikon jewel?" Wide frightened eyes stared at Kagome. 

Confused at her guardian's strong reaction, Kagome nodded. "Yes. That's why the centipede was so fast. Don't worry, though, Kaede. I purified the shard first thing. It'll be no harm to anyone, now. Unless, of course, the Princess got a hold of it. But that's not going to happen, right? We all know she's being kept safe somewhere." 

"You touched it?" the horrified whisper rasped out. 

Kagome retreated in confusion. "Well, yes. It needed to be purified. I may not be good for much else as a priestess, but at least I can purify. Ah, Kaede?" Kagome trailed off. The woman before her was now trembling violently. "Kaede? Are you alright?" 

Kaede's body began rocking. "What have I done?" she whispered to herself. "What have I done?" 

oooooooooooooooo 

Kagome sat in the corner of the hut that served as their kitchen, tended the soup she was making. Normally she would hum to herself cheerfully as she did this task, but today she was still too unnerved to feel like humming. 

She had never seen Kaede react to anything so strongly before. She'd resolved that her guardian must be sick, and had hustled her to bed as quickly as she could. The old woman had fallen to sleep almost instantly, but she had not slept soundly. She'd tossed and turned in her sleep, her mind too restless to allow her body to relax completely. She'd finally settled down about a half hour ago, and Kagome suspected that she was actually awake now. She let her stay in bed, though, worried about her health. 

She turned at the sound of rustling, and saw Kaede getting up. The woman heaved a shuddering sigh, and then moved to the small alcove where they kept their few pieces of spare clothing. Methodically she began taking them down, placing them into the packs they used for traveling. 

"Kaede, what are you doing?" Kagome questioned her. 

"I have made up my mind, child," Kaede responded. "It's time for a change. I see now that I have made a mistake in the way I have raised you. Tomorrow we will set out. We will move into a large city. There you will be with other people. You will be protected from the dangers of demons, and you will not need the skills of a priestess." 

The words hit Kagome like a blow. She felt the prick of tears behind her eyes. "Then, you mean not to train me any longer?" her voice wavered. 

Kaede shook her head no. 

"But, Kaede, why?" Kagome asked in anguish. "I love learning with you. Is it because I had to be rescued from that centipede demon? I know I didn't do very well, but it was my first time. I'm sure to do better next time! I won't disappoint you any more!" 

Kaede shook her head again, and didn't reply. 

"Why, Kaede? You must answer me!" Kagome pleaded. 

Kaede sighed and turned to the distressed girl. "There are many things I cannot explain to you now. I will explain soon, but for now you must have patience with me," she said. Seeing the tears running down her charge's face, she reached out and hugged her. "Please have patience with an old woman. I will tell you it all as soon as I can. For now, please trust me to do what's best for you." 

"Won't you please reconsider?" implored Kagome. "This is my home, my way of life. I don't want it to change! Even if I go away, I want _this_ home to always be there for me." 

"I'm sorry child. The answer is no." Kaede turned away from her, her hands now hanging at her sides. "Kagome, I don't want you to ever touch a shard of the shikon jewel again." 

Kagome took a step back. "But why?" Tears ran down her face. Nearly blinded, she turned, running out the door and into the woods. 

ooooooooooooooooo 

Kagome sat leaning against a tree. Her knees were pulled up so she could rest her arms on them, and her head was buried in her arms. The sobbing had calmed down, and now only a little sniffle emerged every so often. 

She'd had a long time to think about everything she and Kaede had said, now. She'd eventually come to the conclusion that Kaede's sudden decision had something to do with the shikon jewel shard. She still hadn't figured out why, though. It made no sense! Kagome was rapidly going from heartbroken to angry. If Kaede didn't want Kagome using her priestess skills, limited though they were, then why in the world had she been training so hard? It was like the past several years of her life were a complete waste. It really hurt that Kaede seemed to have so little confidence in her. And to compound it all, Kaede wanted to uproot her from the only home she'd ever known. 

Admittedly, Kagome had earlier that very day agreed to leave her home. That had been her own decision, though, and in that leaving she would have felt she still had a home to come back to. The move that Kaede suggested was totally different. The idea of living in a completely strange environment, with a guardian who no longer expressed any confidence in her, left her feeling homeless and alone. Kagome didn't know how she would survive it. 

"There you are!" said an irritated voice. 

Kagome looked up in surprise at the boy from earlier. Staring at him, Kagome suddenly realized that she still didn't know his name. She didn't get a chance to ask him, however, as he continued right on talking. 

"This isn't the right place, you idiot. I've spent half the night waiting for you!" He grabbed her roughly by the arm, hauling her to her feet. "Come on, we don't have any more time to wait." The boy looked her over for half a second. "Did you even pack anything? What, you think you're going to eat and wear dirt or something? That's the only thing you'll get for free on the road, you know." 

Kagome attempted to explain, but the boy cut her off. "Never mind. We'll buy you supplies in town. I'm not waiting any longer." With that, he set off, dragging Kagome behind him. Too shocked to resist, she stumbled after him. 

After a few steps, Kagome began to think again. Well, she had thought it would be better to take a change of her own choosing. And at least this way she'd be with someone who valued her skills, and didn't tell her not to use them. Finally smiling a little, she hurried her step to catch up with the boy. "Yes," she though to herself, "it's time for a change."

* * *

And so chapter four comes to a close! Look for chapter 5 next Saturday (or thereabouts). In the meantime, please feel free to review and let me know what you think! 


	5. Names and Faces

I ended up having to write this chapter on a different computer than normal, since my husband is busy writing midterm papers on our computer. It's funny how weird a new keyboard feels. Ah well, it still let me write! This chapter includes an inn. I don't know if Japan has inns, but I figure I haven't definitely set this story in Japan, and anyways, I needed this particular town to have an inn. So it does. I hope you all enjoy the chapter! 

Many thanks again to all who reviewed chapter 4. You guys are great! 

Disclaimer: Kagome, Inuyasha, and all other Inuyasha characters do not belong to me. I suppose I can claim the innkeeper, though. Joy.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Names and Faces**

Kagome's energy had held up for most of the walk back to the village, even with the fast pace her companion set. By the time the homes of the outer residents became visible through the tree line, however, she was beginning to feel the toll of her emotionally expensive day. She stumbled along after her guide, trying to keep her feet adequately under her and out of the way of obtrusive tree roots. 

It was late enough that most of the houses were dark, the villagers having already gone to bed. The boy, however, seemed to feel the need of extra concealment even so. Before entering the town, he paused and began searching his person. Kagome watched him silently, lacking even the energy to ask him what he was doing. After a moment he produced a long cloak of thin cloth, complete with a hood. He donned the cloak with the minimal fuss of long practice, and tugged the hood into place until it completely obscured his face. Turning to Kagome, he said "I don't have a cloak for you, so just try not to draw attention, okay?" Kagome nodded briefly, observing to herself that it was a good thing everyone was already in bed. She couldn't think of anything more likely to draw attention than the getup her companion was currently sporting. She wasn't in the mood for attention herself, however, so she agreed with the boy's request. 

Quietly they made their way through the village to the one building with lights still on, the village inn. As they approached, Kagome could hear the quiet murmur of voices, even at this late hour. She followed her companion as he slipped inside the front door and made his way to the common room. Instead of entering the room, he stood at the door. After a moment, he motioned to someone. Kagome, standing behind him in the darkness of the hallway, couldn't see who he had summoned until he arrived. A thin man with a smiling face appeared. He bowed to the boy. "How may I serve you, sir?" the man asked, and Kagome surmised he was the owner of the inn. 

"I need another room," the boy said. After a short pause, he seemed to understand that more information was necessary. "For the girl." He stepped aside so that the innkeeper noticed her. 

Kagome ducked her head, not wanting anyone to get a good look at her so close to home. "Ah, yes," said the innkeeper, obviously still perplexed, but not wanting to upset his customer. "There's another room available not far from your own," he finally said. With that, he turned and motioned for them to follow him. He led them down a hallway, around a corner, and halfway down another hall, before stopping in front of a door. "The young lady may stay here." He bowed to Kagome and her companion, and left. 

The boy seemed little more inclined to stay. "My room's two doors down," he said. "I'll see you in the morning." Kagome felt relieved as she watched him continue down the hall. She didn't want to cry around a stranger. She waited until she saw him enter his room, then she turned and entered her own. Fumbling in the dark, she located her bed and crawled into it. She closed her eyes and drew a shuddering breath. Another followed it, shakier than the first. Within moments, tears were streaming down her cheeks as silent sobs racked her body. Even as she cried, she felt stupid. Wasn't this the decision she had made? Well, silly or not, it had been a hard day, and she wanted to cry about it for a while. 

Forty minutes later the sobs had subsided, and Kagome was drifting off to sleep. A last thought fluttered through her brain as she slipped into dreamland. "I don't even know his name yet." 

oooooooooooooooooooooo 

Kagome woke to being shaken roughly. "Hey! Hey, get up already!" the voice was soft, but insistent. Groggily Kagome thought it sounded like the voice wanted to be shouting, but wasn't for some reason. 

Batting the hand away, Kagome rolled over. "It's not time to get up yet," she muttered. 

"Yes it is!" the voice sounded even more insistent, punctuating it's words by shaking Kagome some more. 

Somehow Kagome's foggy brain managed to realize that the voice wasn't going to let her go back to sleep until she'd dealt with it a little more fully. Rolling back onto her back, Kagome opened her eyes. She blinked them a few times, before realizing that she couldn't see because it wasn't light yet. "It's definitely not time to get up yet if the sun isn't up yet," she said very matter-of-factly. 

A grey blur hovering over her shifted a bit. "We need to get on the road," the boy said. "I have someone to meet, and waiting for you put me behind schedule." 

Kagome was going to argue, but then it occurred to her that she was much less likely to be seen by the villagers if she left now than if she left later. Not that the villagers were likely to remember her, but still, it would ruin her plan if Kaede found them and forced her to come home. "Okay," she told the boy, "but I'm not getting up until you leave my room. And what were you thinking coming in, in the first place?" Kagome glared at him, internally amused at how his face went red. 

"You didn't hear me knock, and I couldn't very well start yelling at you at this hour of the morning. I'd wake everyone else up," he explained, glaring back at her to cover his embarrassment. 

Trying not to laugh, Kagome waived him away. "Okay, okay, just get out now." 

The boy complied, and as soon as the door was shut behind him Kagome rolled out of bed. She'd slept in her clothes and had nothing to pack, so really she had very little to do in getting ready. She straightened out her rumpled clothing as best she could, and ran her fingers through her hair a few times before pronouncing herself done. 

She stepped outside her room to find her companion waiting in the hall. Immediately she noticed he was wearing his cloak again. "Here," he said, and thrust a bundle of cloth at her. Unfolding it, she found it was another cloak. "It's my spare. It's probably too long for you, but wear it anyway. You can hem it up when we stop for lunch." 

"Um, thanks," Kagome responded. She put the cloak around her shoulders, but left the hood down while she fastened it in front. Impatient, the boy reached and pulled the hood up over her face. "Hey!" Kagome said, irritated. "It wouldn't kill you to have a little patience, you know!" 

"Keh," responded the boy, turning his back to her. Unable to resist the urge, Kagome stuck her tongue out at him. It didn't really make her any less angry at him, though, and she had to resist the urge to stomp down the hall after him when he started moving away. She didn't want to wake everyone else up just because she was stuck with an idiot. 

It turned out they weren't the only ones awake already. Kagome waited while the idiot settled his account with the innkeeper. She felt a little relieved when he settled for her room as well as his. She'd been a little afraid he might expect her to pay, and she had very little money on her. After all, she hadn't been expecting to go on a journey when she ran out the door of her home yesterday. At the thought of home, Kagome felt her throat tighten. She'd done enough crying last night, she decided, and forced the feeling back. 

The boy glanced back at her, a frown visible in the shadows of his hood, but he said nothing. 

After leaving the inn, Kagome found that her companion meant to leave town immediately. He turned onto the road leading out of town, and took several steps down it before realizing that Kagome was not following him. Stopping, he turned to look at her. "Well, come on!" he growled at her. 

"Hey!" Kagome said, finding her voice. "I thought you said I could buy supplies in town." She folded her arms in imitation of the pose the boy had taken up, and returned his glare. 

"The shops aren't open yet, girl, and it'll be hours before they open. We can be to the next town by then. You can buy whatever you want when we get there. I'm not waiting here." 

The argument was reasonable, Kagome had to admit. She was still angry, however, so she attacked him from a different angle. "My name is not 'girl,'" she told him, stomping up until she was in his face. "It's Kagome. Ka-go-me. If you had any manners at all, you would have asked me already." With a small "humph" she continued on by him, down the road leading out of town. 

She set a fast pace, but the boy didn't take long in catching up to her. They walked side by side in tense silence for quite awhile. Kagome continued angrily playing the morning's events out in her mind, until finally her conscience (and curiosity) kicked in and reminded her that she had shown the same poor manners she'd accused her companion of. 

With this distraction, her anger began ebbing away. After a few minutes, she turned to the boy with a fair resemblance of her normal temperament. "So," she began, "you know my name, but I still don't know yours." 

"Hmn," the boy said. 

After a moment, Kagome realized he wasn't going to add anything else. Trying again, she asked, "What is your name?" 

"Why should I tell you?" came the resentful answer. 

"Because if I'm going to be traveling with you, I have to know what to call you," Kagome responded immediately. 

"Just call me 'my Master.' That'll be good enough." 

"No, it won't. And I'm not calling you my Master, because you're not. Tell me your name." 

"No." 

Kagome frowned at the boy, feeling upset again. Not that his behavior wasn't entirely unexpected, she admitted to herself. After all, the guy was walking around with that ridiculous hood over his face, so he obviously didn't want to be known. Still, it wasn't like she was some stranger on the street asking him. "Why don't you want to tell me your name?" she asked. 

"I just don't." 

"Come on, tell me your name!" 

"No." 

"Tell me!" 

"No." 

Their conversation continued with variations of the same for nearly two hours. By the time the next town was in sight, Kagome felt ready to twist the stupid ears off the stupid boy's head, throw them to the ground, and stomp on them until they were flat little pancakes on the road. 

"Just tell me!!!" 

"Shut up." 

"Come on!" 

"No." The boy's face was well set in angry lines by now. Looking at him, Kagome could almost imagine his eyes glinting red with anger. Still, she'd just been through the most unpleasant two hours of her life, stuck with the biggest stubborn idiot on the face of the planet. She wasn't going to back down. 

"Tell me." 

"Grrr," the boy faced her, and Kagome could see his mouth drawn back in a snarl. She suddenly felt a little uneasy, and wondered if she'd finally pushed him too far. They faced each other in an impromptu staring contest, and Kagome was about to back down, when they were both distracted by the clicking sound of metal coming closer. They both faced the sound, and Kagome saw it was made by the rings of a priest's staff. The staff was carried by a young man dressed in a purple priest's robe. He looked concerned as he approached them. 

"Inuyasha! You're very late." The priest turned his gaze on Kagome, and his gaze softened. "I can see that you have good reason, though, so I'll forgive you this once." He walked up to Kagome and took both her hands in his. "My lady, you are a vision of loveliness!" 

"Miroku!" the boy hissed at the priest. 

Kagome, meanwhile, was busy processing the piece of information that had just been given her. "Inuyasha?....._The_ Inuyasha?" She turned to the boy, and saw confirmation in his uncomfortable look. "Prince Inuyasha, the half demon son of Inutaisho who's betrothed to the cursed princess Kikyo?!?" 

Miroku smiled at her. "That's our Inuyasha!" he announced. 

Kagome fainted.

* * *

Well, there's chapter five in all it's wonderful glory. Reviews are always appreciated, and please come back next week for the next chapter! 

-Silvanon 


	6. The Gallant Heroes

Hello again! Here is the ever-so-eagerly awaited chapter 6! Oh, and a great big "Thank you" to those who reviewed chapter 5. Reviews really do make it much funner to write the next chapter. :) 

Disclaimer: Inuyasha & co. are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for a bit. I'm going to give them back. Really. Now turn your backs for just a moment please, and ignore the rustling and the muffled cries for help.

* * *

Chapter 6: The Gallant Heroes 

Kagome fainted. Miroku, too surprised to do anything, felt her hands slip out of his as she fell. She hit the ground with a resounding thump. 

"Hey, monk, what'd ya do to her?" Inuyasha instantly accused. 

Miroku backed up a step, holding up his hands to plead innocence. "I didn't do anything to her, Inuyasha, I swear." His look then went from innocent to sly. "I would never presume to make an attempt on a girl already claimed by His Highness." 

Inuyasha instantly turned a deep shade of red, and began sputtering. "What? Hey. HEY! I never said..." 

"Come, Inuyasha," interrupted Miroku, looking every bit the dignified and collected priest. "We should get the girl inside before she catches cold." Miroku collected said girl in his arms, and started walking towards the village. 

Inuyasha sputtered a bit more before following the monk, muttering to himself. Miroku caught the phrase "nothing but trouble" more than once. 

Miroku made his way straight to the wealthiest looking home in the village, which caused Inuyasha to roll his eyes. "Looks like he's at it again," he thought to himself. Sure enough, as soon as they entered, there was the wealthy family ready to grovel at Miroku's feet, marveling over how they'd never even noticed the "demon presence" in their home until the kind monk had pointed it out to them, and offered to exorcise it. Inuyasha grumbled to himself about it, but held his peace in front of the family. It was his right to demand to stay anywhere he pleased, but he didn't feel like revealing himself to the villagers and watch them grovel over him like they were Miroku. 

Inuyasha tuned into the conversation again, and realized that Miroku was telling the family about the girl. "That's right, this poor, beautiful young girl has had a terrible fright. You can see it was too much for her delicate mind to take. She needs a place to rest and recover, and I know you would be more than willing to allow her to stay the night here." Inuyasha seethed. "Terrible fright", indeed. He'd show that monk what a terrible fright was! 

"Oh, and a place for my companion I told you about as well," Miroku continued. The family took one look at Inuyasha's expression and shrank back. "Oh, don't worry," Miroku leaned forward and said to them in a false whisper. "He has a bit of a short temper, but he's really quite harmless." 

Inuyasha growled, but the family inexplicably trusted Miroku. "Oh, of course, good sir. I should have known you would never bring anyone dangerous here," the father said, while behind him one of the girls said "I'm so relieved!" The whole family relaxed, and Inuyasha felt his anger rise another notch. 

"Just show us to our room," Inuyasha snapped. 

"Of course, sir, right this way," the father said cheerfully. 

As soon as they were settled into their room, Inuyasha turned on Miroku. "What did you think you were doing, telling them all stupid lies like that!" 

Miroku merely lifted an eyebrow at Inuyasha. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean, Inuyasha," he said in a politely confused voice. 

"Cut out the act, monk. I know you too well." Inuyasha retaliated. "What were you doing telling them she fainted of fright? She was just surprised, that's all!" 

"I don't know, Inuyasha. With those rough manners of yours, I think you could scare just about any girl." Inuyasha began growling at Miroku again, but he ignored it and continued. "Speaking of which, I'm quite surprised she agreed to travel with you if she didn't know who you are. I thought for certain you'd used your power and position to persuade her. I'm sure you must have. Why else would she be with you?" Miroku mused on this point, at a loss for understanding. 

"Hey, not every girl likes stupid perverts like you!" retorted Inuyasha angrily. "In fact, I don't see you with any girls." 

"Ah," said Miroku, immediately jumping on Inuyasha's comment. "So you _admit_ that she's _with_ you." He smirked at Inuyasha suggestively to give his comment the appropriate meaning. 

Inuyasha blushed and started sputtering again. 

oooooooooooooooooooo 

Kagome woke to the sounds of arguing. She also awoke to a fair bit of pain. The back of her head felt sore, like she'd hit it. She was also lying in an incredibly awkward position, with her neck crooked back and one leg at a funny angle that was making her knee sore. Obviously she'd blacked out. She wondered if Inuyasha and that monk guy had simply let her stay how she fell. But no, she was lying on something soft, and there was a blanket over her. They'd moved her, but had been entirely oblivious to the uncomfortable position they left her in. 

Carefully she straighten her body, wincing as sore muscles protested. After a moment she sat up and looked around her. She was inside, in a fairly nice room. The sounds of arguing were coming from the room next door. She deciding to investigate so she got up and, careful of her sore knee, walked out the door into the hall, and to room next door. The arguing stopped as soon as she slid the door open. 

She was not surprised to see Inuyasha with his monk friend. "He's got such a sour personality, of course he argues even with his friends," Kagome thought. "The guy never even smiles." They were both looking at her, Inuyasha with irritation, while the monk was offering her a friendly smile. Looking at him, Kagome suddenly remembered what had caused her to faint. She immediately slid the door shut again. 

Two shocked faces stared at the now-closed door. After a moment of profound silence, Miroku turned to Inuyasha. "Your friend seems a little shy," he observed. 

Inuyasha was still busy staring at the door in consternation. The look on her face, just before she closed the door--like she'd just made the most awful discovery. It troubled him, down to the center of his being. Inuyasha sighed. What was he expecting, anyway? He ought to be used to this by now. All human girls treated him like this. As soon as they figured out he wasn't fully human, they couldn't get far enough away from him. By then, even being a prince wasn't enough to save him. If they found out (which Inuyasha took pains to make sure they didn't) then they'd feel obligated to stay and serve him. They did it with such looks of terror, however, that it nearly drove Inuyasha insane. When had he started hoping that this girl would be different? Just because she'd had the guts to argue with him like a normal person, even knowing what he was. Of course it had to be some sort of cover up. That, or maybe she was just stupid and hadn't realized he was part demon until she heard his name. 

Inuyasha's thoughts were interrupted as the door slid open again. He stared in surprise as Kagome entered the room and approached him. "Here it comes again," he thought to himself. "The terrified submission, the groveling, the pleas that I not kill her, the offers of service that she would almost rather die than give." It gave Inuyasha a bitter taste in his mouth to watch Kagome kneel down in front of him, her face to the floor. 

"Please forgive me, Lord Inuyasha. I know that as a citizen of this nation I should know how to recognize the leaders of this land. I apologize for not recognizing you, and for arguing with you as I did. Please forgive me?" Kagome raised her head to meet his eyes, and Inuyasha felt a jolt go through him. Her face held no fear. No fear at all! Just a comical mixture of embarrassment and hope. Not daring to trust his eyes, Inuyasha leaned down and sniffed at the girl. His nose would tell him if his eyes saw true. 

Kagome froze in shock as Inuyasha leaned down and began...sniffing at her? Her sense of self preservation kicked in, and before she even knew what she was doing, she placed both hands on Inuyasha's chest and shoved, hard. He reeled back, falling down. 

Almost immediately Kagome regretted the action. "Oh no! What have I done? Here I am trying to apologize to the Prince, and then I go and push him down!" She scrambled over to where Inuyasha was lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling. She grabbed one shoulder and began shaking it. "Inuyasha? Prince Inuyasha, are you alright? I'm so sorry! Please forgive me! What can I do for you?" 

No, Inuyasha decided as he studied the ceiling, this girl was definitely not afraid of him. And he didn't like it! He knocked the girl's hands away and jumped up. "What was that for?" he yelled at her. 

Kagome went from panicked remorse to anger in record time. "Well what did you expect? You started sniffing at me with no warning at all! That's a total violation of personal space. I'm not that kind of girl, I'll have you know!" 

Inuyasha felt him self blush for what must have been the twentieth time today. What was with these people? First Miroku, and now even the girl was accusing him of indecency. 

"I wasn't doing anything of the sort!" Inuyasha retorted. "I was just trying to make sure you were sincere when you apologized." 

"Wha..." Kagome said, confused. "How is sniffing at me going to tell you whether I'm sincere or not?" 

Miroku decided it was time to step in. "As you know, Inuyasha is part dog demon. Dog demons have an excellent sense of smell. He can tell what people are feeling by the scents they give off." 

"Really?" said Kagome, surprised and interested. She turned to Inuyasha. "What else can you do?" 

Inuyasha felt a little surprised. No one had ever expressed any interest like this before. "I, ah, well, I can heal really fast. I don't need to sleep as much as a human, and I have really good hearing too. Oh, and the claws come in handy." Inuyasha held out a hand with the fingers spread, so she could see his claws. 

"Oh, I didn't notice those," Kagome said. To Inuyasha's surprise, she took his hand and began inspecting them closely. Inuyasha tried not to blush any harder, but let the girl continue her inspection. After a moment she suddenly seemed to realize what she was doing. Inuyasha smirked as he saw that now it was her turn to blush. "Sorry," she said. "Guess I got a bit carried away there." 

"Whatever," Inuyasha said. 

Kagome smiled at him, seeming to take that as all forgiven. "Oh, hey!" She suddenly exclaimed. "You said I could go shopping when we got here, right?" 

"Eh?" said Inuyasha. 

"Come on!" said Kagome brightly. She grabbed his hand and started dragging him towards the door. 

Inuyasha quickly retrieved his hand. "I'm not going on any stupid shopping trip," he growled, annoyed. 

"Oh." Kagome looked back at him, disappointment in her face. Then she brightened. "That's okay, I'll use the time to get to know your friend!" She proceeded to grab Miroku's hand and drag him towards the door. 

Miroku said nothing, but he flashed a too-happy smile at Inuyasha before disappearing out of sight. Inuyasha had a moment's worry, and almost followed after then. "Naw," he thought. "Let the girl have the consequences of choosing to go off alone with Miroku. They never believe until they've experienced it. Besides, he won't dare go too far with her. After all, she is under my protection." Inuyasha leaned back against a wall and settled himself down for a nap. He closed his eyes, and began drifting off. A small smile settled on his face.

* * *

Well, this chapter didn't end up doing quite what I expected it to, but hopefully you still enjoyed it! Whether you did or not, please feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think! 

Thanks all! 

-Silvanon 


	7. Surprise Attack

Hi all! I apologize that this chapter is a week late. I had a super busy week and got a bit sidetracked. I'm back now with Chapter 6, though! 

Thank you so much, to all of you who reviewed! To reviewer Stella I hope my story does somewhat resemble "Spindle's End." It ought to, considering that both stories are based on the same fairy-tale of Sleeping Beauty. I'm doing my best, however, to make sure that this story is it's own creation and not unduly like Spindle's End, or any other Sleeping Beauty adaptation. Thanks for reviewing! 

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha & friends. I also don't own Inuyasha & enemies. I also don't own Inuyasha & passing acquaintances. I also don't own... 

o

* * *

o 

o 

**Chapter 7: Surprise Attack**

Miroku allowed Kagome to drag him out of the room, but as soon as they were out of Inuyasha's sight, he surged ahead. "What's the hurry?" Kagome asked, surprised to find herself being dragged now. 

"If we hurry, Inuyasha might not follow us," explained the monk. "He's a great guy, but if he comes along he's sure to ruin all the fun." 

Kagome nodded, imagining having to haul around a sulking Inuyasha. Miroku smiled, imagining something totally different. He continued to lead Kagome at a brisk pace until they were out of the house and several streets away. 

"I think we're safe now," he told her cheerfully. "Now, we didn't get to introduce ourselves properly before. My name is Miroku. I am Inuyasha's companion and advisor." He gave Kagome a bow. 

Kagome returned the bow, smiling. "My name is Kagome. I'm a priestess in training," she told him. 

"Ah, a priestess in training," Miroku mused. He'd wondered how Inuyasha had convinced a priestess to travel with anyone of demon blood. Perhaps the fact that she was still in training explained it. He'd think on it more later. Right now....he grabbed both of Kagome's hands. "Lady Kagome, would you do me the honor..." 

"Oh, it's perfect!" Kagome interrupted him, nearly squealing with delight. Miroku found himself nearly jerked off his feet as Kagome hurried towards a nearby merchant stall, pulling him along. She released his hand upon entering the stall, and Miroku gingerly rotated his shoulder and arm, feeling the abused muscles twinge. "Isn't it beautiful?" she asked him, holding up a length of cloth. Miroku forced himself to smile and nod, and keep his thoughts to himself. 

The shopkeeper soon noticed Kagome, and the two began haggling over a price for the cloth. Miroku sidled up behind Kagome, and started to reach out, but then his arm gave a particularly painful twinge, and he retracted it. He was about to make another attempt when something Kagome was saying grabbed his attention. 

"You can charge it to Prince Inuyasha. He staying at the Matsuno residence tonight." 

"Prince Inuyasha? _The_ Prince Inuyasha?" questioned the merchant. 

"That's right!" Kagome answered brightly. "He's on a quest to gather sacred jewel shards, and I'm going to be helping him." 

"Oh I see," said the merchant. "I'll just wrap this up for you." 

"Thank you!" 

Miroku grabbed Kagome's arm and pulled her out of the stall. "What do you think you are doing, telling him that Inuyasha is here?" he hissed at her. "He doesn't want people to know who he is!" 

"Yeah, I kinda picked up on that." Kagome said with a hint of gleeful malice. "But he's the one who dragged me away without letting me gather any supplies or money to buy them with, so he's just going to have to deal with me telling his name to a few people. Footing the bill is the least he can do." Kagome ended with a firm nod of the head. 

The shopkeeper emerged from his stall, and Kagome moved to gather up the paper-wrapped package he carried. Watching her, Miroku shuddered. Inuyasha's name would be all over town within the hour. He wondered how many pieces Inuyasha would tear him into. 

Miroku spent a few moments more in this vein of thought, then suddenly shrugged and turned philosophical. If he was going to die so soon, he might as well enjoy his last few moments! He sauntered after Kagome, staying far enough back that he could enjoy watching as she walked. 

oooooooooooooooooooooo 

Kagome grinned to herself in triumph. Miroku hadn't put up nearly as much resistance as she'd thought he would to her method of revenge on Inuyasha. It was sure to get him in trouble with the Prince, but he was blithely ignoring the fact, following her around with a small smile on his face. Maybe he was in shock? Kagome turned around to look at him, but he didn't seem to be displaying any signs of it. He saw her looking and gave her a little wave. She turned back around and frowned a bit. No, he didn't seem to be in shock, but still, it would explain his odd behavior. He'd been following around _behind_ her since the first stall, instead of keeping pace like a person would normally do. Every time she slowed down so he could catch up, he slowed too. It was definitely puzzling behavior, and Kagome didn't know what to make of it. 

oooooooooooooooooooooo 

Miroku was fully enjoying himself. Sweet innocent Kagome didn't seem to understand at all what he was doing. It was rare that Miroku found himself with such a delicious opportunity. Usually women caught onto him right away. He and Kagome made their way down the long row of stalls that composed the market street, and were now close to the edge of town. As Kagome headed towards the last booth, Miroku shifted the various packages he was carrying to leave one hand free. It was time to go in for the kill, he decided. She'd never know what hit her. He smiled in anticipation. 

ooooooooooooooooooooo 

Kagome moved around the booth in a systematic manner, looking at all the wares set out for display. She moved to the outside of the booth to examine some of the fine cloths hung on the outside wall, Miroku following along behind her as usual. Kagome could sense the open forest behind her, and she reflected that it was nice to be here on the edge of town, where it was less busy and more like the life she knew. She smiled and bent over to admire the beautiful trim woven into one of the fabrics hung on the wall. 

Suddenly, Kagome felts something rubbing against her backside. In an instant, Kagome realized what she had failed to understand before, the real reason why Miroku had been following along _behind_ her all day. Furious, she wheeled around, ready to knock the stupid pervert into the next century or worse. 

Her blow missed. Mostly because Miroku was not actually behind her, but several feet above. A long green tentacle held him in the air, wrapping around his body and over his mouth so he couldn't scream. Kagome managed to get out a small scream before another nearby tentacle wrapped her up in a similar manner. 

oooooooooooooooooooooo 

Inuyasha's ears perked at the distant sound of Kagome's scream. It was quite a bit later than Inuyasha had imagined it would be. Usually Miroku was much quicker in trying to take advantage of pretty girls. His smile changed into a frown, though, as the scream was cut short. That was definitely off. Usually once a girl started screaming and yelling at Miroku, they went on for quite awhile. Inuyasha felt a twinge of concern, and decided to go investigate. 

He wasn't too worried until he got outside, and noticed the various lengths of green tentacle waving over the rooftops, swinging about everything from a wheelbarrow to a madding flapping chicken, to several humans. Inuyasha squinted his eyes, and sure enough, there were Kagome and Miroku among the bunch being held aloft. 

"Just my luck," he grumbled to himself before taking off in the direction of the fight. 

Inuyasha arrived at the edge of town, and could finally get a good full view of the attacking creature. It was a large, blobby green demon with what seemed like thousands of tentacles sprouting from the main body. It was surrounded by a ring of villiagers, most of whom were sporting nothing better than a pitchfork by way of defense. 

"Everybody move back!" he commanded, drawing Tetsusaiga at the same time. The villagers just stared at him at first, but seemed suitably impressed when they saw the blade transform. They drew back, giving him a clean opening to the monster. 

With a cry, Inuyasha rushed forward and leapt towards the thrashing limbs of the beast. One by one he cut down the tentacles holding his friends and the villagers. Other tentacles followed his every move, trying at every turn to wrap him up as neatly as they'd done the others. 

He slashed through the limb that had caught Kagome and then rushed to catch her as she was suddenly released. Various tentacles were instantly trained on the spot where he caught her, and he leapt to the side, avoiding the rush of green, suckered flesh. He moved Kagome to an area outside of the fray, and gently set her down. 

"Thanks," she told him, nearly breathless. He moved to join the battle again, but she caught his sleeve, holding him back. "It has jewel shards!" she told him. 

"Where?!?" he exclaimed eagerly. 

"On the main body, right above the mouth!" 

"Thanks!" Inuyasha rushed back to the fight, suddenly much more eager and determined. He arrived just in time to save Miroku from a side blow by a tentacle. "Kagome says this one has a jewel shard!" he informed the monk. 

"Really?" said Miroku, surprised. He'd had no idea the girl was powerful enough to sense sacred jewel shards. "That's great!" 

They fought back to back a moment, fending off tentacles. Then Inuyasha was off again, aiming his attacks at the main body. After a few moments he began growling in frustration. With so many tentacles attacking him, it was nearly impossible to reach the center of the creature. Suddenly a glowing arrow streaked by him and imbedded itself in a nearby tentacle. Another arrow hit an attacking green limb on the other side, and suddenly his way to the main body was clear. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he rushed forward. Within moments the creature was neatly sliced in half. 

The green mass lie quivering, various tentacles still twitching about. Inuyasha turned to Kagome and motioned her forward. "Hurry, before it regenerates!" he urged her. 

Kagome slung her borrowed bow across her back and moved swiftly towards the half with the creature's mouth. Gingerly avoiding the gaping hole lined with teeth, she reached up and plucked the jewel shard from out of the monster's flesh. The effect was immediate, as the creature turned to dust in seconds, and the wind began blowing it away. 

"Whew!" commented Kagome, wiping her brow. "Thank goodness you came," she told Inuyasha, handing him the jewel shard. 

oooooooooooooooooooooo 

Naraku peered intently at the scene unfolding in Kanna's mirror, watching as the demon he'd sent battled with Inuyasha and the villagers. He didn't really expect the creature to win, but he wanted to see how Inuyasha was coming along. After all, if the boy got too strong, he might be a threat to Naraku's plans. He nodded his head as the battle drew to a close. Inuyasha had grown in power since he'd last observed the half-demon, but he was still far from being a true threat. Naraku was turning away when he felt a sudden jolt run through his entire frame. Whirling around, he peered back at the mirror. "The jewel shard, Kanna! Focus on the jewel shard!" The strange white girl complied, and the scene in the mirror drew down to focus on the area where the tainted jewel shard had lain. It was tainted no more, having been picked up by a young priestess. Naraku recalled seeing her shoot some purifying arrows during the battle, but he'd had no idea the girl was so powerful. 

As the scene drew in further to focus on the young woman's face, Naraku suddenly began laughing. "Well, well, well, it seems the lost has been found," he gloated. "I wonder if Queen Higurashi knows that her darling little Princess Kikyo is traveling with Inuyasha, and actually hunting jewel shards!" 

o

* * *

o 

o 

Thanks all for reading! I hope you liked it! If you've got a moment, please drop a line and let me know what you think! 

Thanks all! 

-Silvanon 


	8. Unwanted Visitors

I had a very busy weekend, rearranging my living room. I finally thought of a way to fit in all the furniture and not end up crawling over stuff to get anywhere. Yay! I feel so much happier with the room the way it is now. Made me feel like I could try writing another chapter. 

Oh, I want to give a very special thanks to heather and miarathebaka for reviewing last chapter. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! 

Disclaimer: Inuyasha & co aren't mine! 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

**Chapter 8: Unwanted Visitors**

Inuyasha stared at the jewel shard in his hand for a moment. "No," he said slowly, "I don't think I'd better carry this. You hang onto it, Kagome." He handed it back to the girl, and followed it with the four other shards he had with him. "They'll stay pure with you. My demon blood taints them if I carry them too long." 

Kagome looked surprised, but quickly stowed away the shards. "Sure, I'll carry them," she agreed. 

Inuyasha felt a big guilty giving them too her, knowing it would make her a target in future demon attacks. More so, though, he felt relief at having the tempting shards out of his immediate possession. Anyone of demon blood felt their siren call. Inuyasha felt no desire to fall prey to the enticing trap, and his resistance had been sorely tested in times past. "Thanks," he told Kagome seriously. 

She looked up at him, eyes wide with surprise. Seeing it, Inuyasha realized with chargin that she hadn't believed him capable of niceness. On a sudden impulse, he complimented her, "Your shooting wasn't half bad. It really helped me out there." 

Kagome's face broke into a radiant smile. "Thank you!" she exclaimed happily. Looking at her, Inuyasha felt his heart squeeze tight. 

oooooooooooooooooo 

Kagura felt her heart squeeze tight, or rather, she felt a painful squeeze in the cavity where her heart should be. She was running short on time. She surveyed the Eastern Palace from her feather boat, warily eyeing the fortress-like wall running around it. She could barely distinguish the ant-like guards from this height. She once again cursed the priestess-made barrier that forced her up this high. How was she suppose to deliver the message she carried if she couldn't approach the palace? 

Well, the letter certainly wasn't going to be delivered if she remained here. Deftly twisting the feather beneath her, she guided it to follow the arc of the barrier down towards the ground. As she traveled, she glanced towards the outer gates of the palace, and felt that her luck was finally changing for the better. A small figure, dressed in Eastern colors and riding a fine bay horse had just left the palace gates. A court herald was just the thing she needed! Kagura picked up her speed a bit, intent on intercepting the herald just at the point of exiting the barrier. 

Her luck held out. The man didn't even realize she was there until after he was out of the barrier. A quick twist of her fan had him hung in the air, helpless. His eyes widened in terror when he finally caught sight of her. He started babbling some sort of nonsense that Kagura didn't bother listening to. 

"I have a job for you," she announced to him as she stepped to the ground. 

"Wha...What!?! I'll never work for you!" the man sputtered. 

"It's nothing outside your usual duties," Kagura told him shortly. She paused a moment to add the now tiny feather boat to the arrangement in her hair. "You will deliver this letter to the Queen." 

The man took the letter from her in a shaking hand. He squeaked when he saw Naraku's seal on it. "I can't give something like this directly to the Queen," he stuttered at her. Kagura resisted the temptation to roll her eyes at him. "Of course not. Feel free to have it fully checked out by whomever you wish, first. My master doesn't care who else sees it, so long as Queen does." 

"How do I know it's not some sort of spell on this letter," the herald asked, suspicious. 

"It is a simple letter, nothing more," Kagura informed him. "Read it yourself, if you doubt me. But do deliver it to the Queen. It has information she'll want to know." Kagura gave the man a malicious smile, and then released him. "Go, deliver the letter." 

The man scrambled away from her, running back towards the palace, the letter tightly clenched in one hand. 

oooooooooooooooooo 

Inuyasha sat in a corner, sulking. A soft rap came at the door, causing his ears to flatten themselves even more tightly against his skull. He knew they couldn't ignore the knocking, but it still irked him to no end when Kagome rose and slid the door open. It was, of course, another peasant family come to offer their fearful respects to him. He watched as the family bowed low, none of them daring to lift their eyes to him. They muttered something or other of loyalty and pushed forward the offering they'd brought-a basket of peaches this time. Kagome thanked them in his name, but far more politely than he himself would have done, and added their gift to the already large pile of offerings. 

Somehow the villagers had recognized him. Almost immediately after killing the demon that had attacked the village, the cry of "Hail Prince Inuyasha!" had gone up. It had shattered the moment he'd had with Kagome, pushing him from nearly happy to definitely not in record time. He knew they felt the irony of lauding one demon for killing another, and were surely not sincere in doing so, but what could he do? He'd considered bolting for the forest, but Miroku and Kagome had both argued forcibly against the idea. It was his own experience that finally won them their point-run from villagers, and they were likely to come after you with pitchforks and torches. So he'd stayed, and was now enduring the torture of watching the townspeople try to cope with a half demon prince in their midst. 

"We won't have to buy food for a week!" Kagome commented, happily looking over the pile she'd been making. She smiled at Inuyasha and grinned inside as she watched his face grow stormier. Operation Revenge was a resounding success! 

Of course, she'd feel a little better about it if he hadn't been so nice to her earlier. She remembered the look in his eyes, right before the villagers had started their chanting. It made her feel a little funny inside to think about it. Princes weren't suppose to look at common hermit priestesses that way, and Inuyasha certainly didn't seem the type. Kagome shook her head. It was no good allowing even a hint of thoughts like that. Even if she wasn't so inferior in station to him, Inuyasha was already betrothed to Kikyo. There was no chance of anything happening between her and Inuyasha. 

Kagome shook her head and smiled wryly to herself. That thought wasn't quite as comforting as it had been half a day ago. She would have to be careful and remember what a jerk Inuyasha really was, or she might find herself liking him. 

Another light knock sounded at the door, and Kagome quickly moved to answer it. She'd taken care to be first to the door after Inuyasha had "taken care of" the first poor visitors. She smiled and softly thanked the old woman, graciously accepting her offering of bread. 

"That's it!" Inuyasha announced crossly as soon as the door was shut behind the woman. "I'm going to bed. No more visitors!" Miroku and Kagome just stared at him, so he jumped up and started pushing them towards the door. "Out!" he ordered. "Go to your own rooms!" He slid open the door, and shoved the two out, ignoring the surprised looks on the faces of the two men who'd been trying to work up the courage to knock. "I'm going to bed now!" he proclaimed in a loud voice, staring the two men down until they backed away. He slammed the door shut. 

"Is Prince Inuyasha alright?" Mr. Matsuno asked as he helped Kagome up from the floor. "Is there anything wrong with the room." 

Kagome smiled a bit painfully at the concerned homeowner. "Oh, there's nothing at all wrong. Prince Inuyasha is extremely grateful to you for giving up your own room for him. He just gets a little cranky sometimes. You just have to ignore him when he's like this, and he'll eventually calm down." 

"Yes," joined Miroku. "He likes to bark a lot, but he doesn't really bite." 

"I heard that!" Inuyasha's said voice, somewhat muffled by the walls between them. 

Mr. Matsuno's jaw dropped. "Do you think we've offended him?" he whispered to Kagome and Miroku. 

"Nah, don't worry about it," she told him. "It's just like Miroku said. Well, I'm off to bed!" 

"I heard that too!" Inuyasha's voice followed her down the hall. 

Mr. Matsuno stood for a moment contemplating the situation. Suddenly he remembered the kind monk's words from earlier that day. " He has a bit of a short temper, but he's really quite harmless," the man repeated to himself. He smiled, feeling better, and moved to shoo away the last of the visitors. "His Highness is going to sleep now," he told them. "Come back in the morning, please." 

Inuyasha heard the man repeating Miroku's earlier words and gritted his teeth to keep from screaming. He was definitely going to get Miroku back for saying that! 

oooooooooooooooooooooo 

"Your Highness, may I come in?" 

Queen Higurashi looked up from her work. "Yes, come in," she called. The door opened, admitting one of her youngest but most trusted advisors. "Shippo, please come in," she greeted him. It was unusual for a human to have a demon in any court position, but the fox had long since proven himself not only incredibly intelligent and useful, but also completely loyal to her. 

"I have a letter from our enemy, my lady," he told her solemnly. "I've tested it, and the letter itself is harmless. I am afraid the news may not prove so innocent, however." 

The Queen took the letter hesitantly, afraid of what it might say after such a serious introduction. With a trembling heart she read it. 

_My dear Queen Higurashi, _

I write only to tell you that I have recently located your daughter, and wish to inform you that she is currently safe and well. My every thought will be towards her welfare. 

Yours ever, 

Naraku 

The Queen gasped and leaned back in her chair. "He knows where she is! He knows where she is!" She sat staring into nothing for a moment, just trying to breath. "Shippo," she turned to her advisor, "you've read the contents of the letter?" 

Shippo nodded. "I have." 

"What do you think, Shippo? Does he hold my daughter captive, or simply know of her whereabouts?" 

Shippo considered the letter for a long moment before responding. "I think if he already had your daughter, he would be proclaiming her death, my lady. I believe he merely knows her location, but has not yet moved against her." Shippo sighed and studied the letter again. "We must consider that this may be a farce to trick us into revealing the Princess's location. We should send to Kaede, but not immediately. It must be very discrete when we do so. I assume you know her position?" 

The Queen nodded. "Yes. I saw her with my Kikyo each year during our tour of the Kingdom. I never marked them out in any way, of course, they were just part of the crowd come to see the King and Queen, but I know where to look for them." 

"Good," Shippo responded. "We will send to her, then, in one month's time. Until then we must trust Kaede to keep Kikyo safe." 

Queen Higurashi let out a shuddering sigh. "Very well. Thank you for your advice, Shippo. You may go now." 

Shippo silently quitted the room, and the Queen shut her eyes in exhaustion. She sent a sad thought towards the departed. "Oh, my husband, how I wish you were with me now. How am I going to get through this without you?" 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

This chapter kept trying to reorganize itself. Hopefully it all flows in a not-too-confusing manner. Anyways, please review and let me know what you think! 

Thanks all! 

-Silvanon 


	9. Look Again

Thank you everyone who reviewed chapter 8! Reviews make my day so much brighter. :)

Disclaimer: Inuyasha's not mine. Humph.

o

o

* * *

o 

o

**Chapter 9: Look again**

Kagome sat in her room quietly preparing for bed. It had been about an hour since Inuyasha had shooed them all out of his room. Normally she was a bit quicker about hopping in the sack, but tonight she had a lot to prepare. Suddenly Inuyasha's voice roared out, audible even in her room several halls away. "WHAT?!?"

Kagome cringed and wondered what had caused the outburst. Several minutes passed without further noise, and she began to relax. She moved to return to her preparations, but a tingling down her spin caused her to pause. The door to her room was thrown open violently, and Inuyasha stormed inside. Kagome jumped, not having heard him coming down the hall. "Inuyasha!" she exclaimed her surprise.

Suddenly a sheaf of papers was shoved into her face. "What is this?" Inuyasha demanded. Kagome leaned back, trying to see what was written on the first paper, but it followed her back. "Inuyasha," she sighed, "I can't read it when it's that close."

The paper pulled back a bit, and Kagome could now see that it was one of the receipts for her day's purchases. "That's the bills for my supplies," Kagome said as she smiled a challenge up at him. "I didn't have enough money for supplies on me when you dragged me away from home the other day, so I figured you wouldn't mind paying."

"And why," Inuyasha ground out, "are the bills made out to 'Prince Inuyasha,' eh? What part of keeping a low profile don't you understand?"

Kagome gave Inuyasha one of her most innocent smiles. "Oh, I'm sorry, you didn't tell me you wanted to keep a low profile."

Inuyasha shoved his face in hers and issued a low growl. "Don't you ever do that to me again, you hear me?"

"My, my, I guess you're not as tired as you thought," Miroku's voice interrupted from the doorway.

Inuyasha blinked once, and suddenly realized how close he was to Kagome. Another blink and he was across the room, stubbornly trying to pretend that his face wasn't beet red. "It's nothing like that!" he told Miroku. He made his way to the door and shoved passed the monk.

Miroku watched Inuyasha leave, then smiled and winked at Kagome before returning to his own room.

"Well," Kagome said to herself, "that went just perfectly." She finished up her preparations, and slipped into bed. She snuffed out the light, and then lay in the darkness, poring over everything that had happened that day. A blush touched her cheeks as she remembered Inuyasha's face so close to her own.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

For the second morning in a row, Kagome was woken up by Inuyasha well before the sun had risen. She was prepared for it this time, and was already sitting up in bed when he poked his head through the door. Seeing her awake, he simply grunted and left. Kagome hopped out of bed, pleased that she'd been able to anticipate him. His little plan of leaving early and unnoticed wasn't going to work this morning, though. She'd taken care of that last night.

Quickly she dressed, and gathered up the bundle of belongings she'd prepared the night before. She was munching on an apple she'd grabbed from the kitchens yesterday as she emerged from her room.

Miroku was apparently just as prepared for early departure, as he was already standing ready in the hallway. Inuyasha stood next to him, already dressed in his hooded cloak, one foot tapping impatiently. He stared suspiciously at Kagome when she appeared so quickly, but only told her gruffly to get her cloak on.

Inuyasha didn't seem to notice as they left the house that no one else was there. Perhaps he assumed they were all still asleep, but Kagome, who knew that the servants at least should already be up and around, felt their absence. She hurried ahead, almost taking the lead in her eagerness to exit the building.

About two streets away from the outside of town, Inuyasha suddenly stopped dead.

"What's wrong," Kagome asked, touching a hand to his sleeve. Inuyasha glanced down at her hand, and his cheeks gained a touch of red. He moved forward, breaking the contact. "There's people up head."

Kagome followed him, happily anticipating the next stage of Operation Revenge. They turned a corner and were finally able to view the road leading out of town. The path was lined with crowds of people. The turnout was far better than Kagome had hoped for. "Wow," she thought to herself. "I think the entire town is here!"

Inuyasha blanched wonderfully when he saw the people. "Isn't there any other way out of town?" he asked Miroku in a strained whisper.

"Too late, Inuyasha. They've already spotted us." Miroku responded calmly. "Besides, this is the way we need to go."

Inuyasha simply growled in response, and pulled his hood farther over his face.

The crowd began cheering as they approached. As Inuyasha passed between the first ranks of the villagers, they bowed to him. Inuyasha's growl deepened.

Kagome was thoroughly enjoying Inuyasha's discomfort (The jerk deserved it!), but it also puzzled her. She quickened her step to come alongside him. "Inuyasha," she queried, "I don't understand. Why does this bother you so much?"

Inuyasha turned to her, his face twisted in anger. In a low voice, so that only Kagome could hear him, he answered. "Look at them! They don't want a half-demon in their midst. They're scared of me, and they want to make sure I leave."

Kagome shook her head, feeling a stab of pity for her mistaken friend. What had happened to him to make him so cynical? "Inuyasha, look again," she told him. "They wouldn't be here if they were frightened of you. They're not scared, they're grateful to you."

Inuyasha's scowl lightened a bit at Kagome's words, as he sensed her sincerity. "Look again," she urged him again, softly.

His face changed to surprise, and he lifted his eyes to stare at the faces of the crowd. Scanning their expressions, he saw that she was right-he didn't see anger or fear in the eyes of these people. One little girl, seeing that he was looking at her, stepped out from the crowd. She held up a small bouquet of wildflowers to him, a small hopeful smile on her face. Gingerly he accepted the small offering. "Thanks," he told her. The smile on her face widened, and she excitedly turned back to her family. As he continued on, he could hear her telling how she'd given flowers to Prince Inuyasha, and her family congratulating her. Hearing their words, Inuyasha could feel the burden on his heart become a little lighter. Maybe Kagome was right. Maybe he hadn't given these people enough of a chance.

Enough people had turned out to see Inuyasha off that it took several minutes of walking to get past them all. Finally the last of the well wishers petered out. Eventually they were out of hearing range, and the cheering was replaced by the sounds of the countryside. Inuyasha waited until they had gone around a large bend in the road, and were out of site of the village, and then stopped the group. "I'd like to leave the road and travel cross country for a bit," he announced. "But first, I have a couple items of business."

Both Kagome and Miroku looked at him with surprise. "Yes?" queried Kagome.

"First," stated Inuyasha, "these are for you, Kagome." With a flourish he handed her the bouquet of flowers he'd received earlier. Kagome blushed a little and thanked him, and Inuyasha gave her a small smile.

"Second," Inuyasha continued, and his eyes hardened a bit. "Miroku, I understand that you were with Kagome yesterday when she was spreading my name all around town."

"Ah, um, heh, heh," stuttered Miroku. "You see, Inuyasha...."

"Yes, Miroku," Inuyasha said, folding his arms, looking at Miroku with eyes narrowed and twinkling dangerously.

"Um....yes. Goodbye!" Miroku gathered up his robes and took off at a run, his staff clanking wildly as he hightailed it away from Inuyasha.

Inuyasha took off after him immediately.

Kagome stayed for a second to shake her head at them, before following at a jog.

o

o

o

* * *

o 

o

o

Thanks for reading! If you have a second, please review!

Thanks all!

Silvanon


	10. Some Strange Fate

I'm back with another chapter! Sorry folks, I know my chapters are short. But, I know myself, and if I try to take on too big of a writing project, I get discouraged and don't finish it. If I keep my chapters short, they'll feel doable to me, and I'll keep at them and finish the story. 

My dear husband & beta reader is busy with finals this week, so this chapter comes to you raw. If you notice mistakes, please let me know about them, and I'll try to get them fixed. Thanks! 

Many thanks again to those of you who reviewed last chapter. You make it so much more fun to write the next chapter. :) 

o 

Disclaimer: Inuyasha & co aren't mine. 

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

**Chapter 10: Some Strange Fate**

The first morning when Kagome didn't return, Kaede felt a twinge of worry. She went about her day's work, expecting to see a bleary-eyed Kagome arrive home any moment. When the second morning arrived with still no sign of the girl, Kaede began to worry in earnest. Her regular routine was abandoned, in favor of combing the forest, visiting Kagome's favorite haunts and searching for signs of where the girl was at. 

The willow tree by the bend in the river, with it's thick crooked branching hanging over the water like a perfect seat, produced nothing. The berry patch with it's thick brambles and unexpected pathways was equally vacant. Even the long narrow clearing, with the homely targets made of bales of hay, where Kagome would often go to practice when she needed to work off frustration, showed no signs of Kaede's ward. 

She did encounter an area broken wood and torn grass that indicated the site of a battle with a large creature, but the damage was old and matched what Kagome had told Kaede about her adventures coming home from the village. The faint lingering tingle, a tell-tale sign of a jewel shard having been and gone, confirmed that this was indeed the site of the battle Kagome had spoken of. 

Kaede pondered briefly as she stood among the wreckage of the battle. If Kagome had been attacked by another demon, surely Kaede's powers would have alerted her to the creature's presence. Kaede felt equally sure that if Kagome had been hurt, she would know it. Her bond to the girl had grown incredibly strong of the years. 

Kagome was a sweet and innocent person, friendly and outgoing. She wasn't the sort of person to spend days sulking in the woods alone. Finally, Kaede concluded that if Kagome had been alone, she would have come home by now. That meant that she was with people, and the only people around were in the local village. 

Kaede returned home to her small cot, feeling acutely it's ringing emptiness as she gathered the necessary supplies for a day's journey. When she had her small bundle of necessary items together in a small sack, she headed out. Just before leaving, she paused and added her money sack to the other items. If Kagome had found shelter with one of the village families and was staying in hiding, it might take her more than a day to find her. 

The walk to the village was hard on Kaede's aging body, and her bones ached by the time the first homes came into view. Grimly she walked on, determined to find Kagome as quickly as possible. 

She asked first in the marketplace, and quickly found out that Kagome had indeed visited several stalls the day she had gone to the village. No one had seen her that night, or anytime since then, however. Abandoning the market, she began traveling down side streets, questioning by passers and knocking on doors. A few kind concerned people offered to help her search, and she gladly accepted their offers. The quicker she found Kagome, the better. One mother, concerned but unable to help due to the several small children clinging to her skirts, asked if Kaede had checked the local inn. Kaede hadn't, but after a moment recalled that Kagome would have had a little extra money left over from the market visit, so she thanked the woman and hurried to the inn. 

The innkeeper was busy serving guests, and at first only listened to her with half an ear. He gave her his full attention, however, when he heard that a girl was missing. 

"Let's see," he said, scratching behind one ear as he thought. "I've had a lot of people through lately, but there was one that might have been your little miss. The night before last she was here. She was with another fellow, and a strange sort of character he was. He always kept his hood up, even inside. He didn't like it when people stared too much, either. Anyway, he reserved a room earlier in the day, but he came back that night and said he needed another room, for the girl he had with him. I remember it because I was surprised by the girl." 

"What did the girl look like?" Kaede questioned. 

"She didn't let me get a good look at her, but I'd say she was around fifteen years old, with black hair and fair skin." 

Kaede nodded. That could very well describe Kagome. "And that man she was with?" 

"Well, I would say that he wasn't much older than the girl, but then, it's hard to tell age with demons. He might have been 200 for all I know, really." 

Kaede made a noise of surprise. "She was with a demon, you say?" 

"Well," paused the innkeeper. "Hum....I thought he was human at first, but the more I think about it, the more I believe he was actually a demon. There's not many human boys running around with white hair like that. His eyes were funny, too. I didn't get a good look at them, but they were some sort of yellow I think. Brown eyes don't look that light under a cloak. He had at least some demon blood in him, anyway." 

"Did either of them tell you their names?" Kaede pressed. 

"Sorry, neither of them did." 

"Are they still here? Can you show me to them?" 

The innkeeper shook his head. "Sorry, madam. They only stayed one night, they left before dawn yesterday morning. I didn't even have the fire going in the common room yet when they headed out." 

Kaede sighed, troubled. "One last question, then, and I thank you for your help. Did they tell you where they were going?" 

"They didn't tell me for sure where they were going, but I watched them out the door, and it looked like they were headed west." 

Kaede nodded and thanked the man again. "You've been a great help to me, you have my most profound gratitude," she told the man. 

Kaede shook her head as she put her feet on the road leading west. "Could it be that some strange fate has pulled Kagome and Inuyasha together?" she asked herself. 

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

Inuyasha led the group through the thickening forest, occasionally using Tetsusaiga to hack away some offending branch or other. Kagome followed behind with Miroku. They walked side by side, at Kagome's insistence. Every once in awhile, Miroku rubbed a sore spot. He was developing several bruises, he noticed. What a temper Inuyasha had! Admittedly, his friend had restrained himself, but still! 

Kagome watched Miroku and winced in sympathy for him. Her sympathy didn't extend to allowing him to walk behind and watch her rear as they traveled, but she still felt for him. 

Up ahead, Inuyasha paused and turned back to his companions. "Hey, there's a bit of a clearing up ahead. What do you say we make use of it and have ourselves some lunch?" 

"Lets!" said Miroku 

"Definitely" chimed in Kagome. 

"Hurry up then!" called back Inuyasha, as he went ahead. The other two quickened their steps, and soon found themselves in a small green meadow. The sound of flowing water let them know there was even a river nearby. 

"So," said Kagome, "What's for lunch?" 

The two men turned to stare at her, and Kagome soon began to wonder if she'd asked a stupid question. The problem became clear when Inuyasha spoke up. "Whatever you make us, of course." 

"But, but," sputtered Kagome with the beginnings of anger. 

"Don't worry," continued Inuyasha. "Miroku's carrying everything you need to cook with." 

Kagome turned a heated glare on him. "What?" he asked, with typical arrogance. Kagome continued to glare at him until his expression darkened and he started glaring back. A moment longer, and then she turned her stormy gaze on Miroku. The monk was unconsciously rubbing at his bruised shoulder, and Kagome, seeing it, felt a bit of her anger slip away. After all, it could be considered her fault that Miroku had gotten whacked by Inuyasha. Maybe he deserved a break. 

Kagome's stomach growled, reminding her that she did want something to eat fairly soon. Suddenly, it occurred to her to wonder what kind of meal she'd get if she allowed Inuyasha to cook. Kagome felt a small shudder go through her. "All right," she relented. "Miroku, show me the cooking gear." 

Forty minutes later found Kagome at the nearby river, washing out the pots she'd used. Have a nice warm meal in her tummy did wonders for Kagome's state of mind, and she hummed happily to herself as she scrubbed away. The men were still in the clearing, finishing putting away the rest of the things they'd used during the meal. 

"Hey," Inuyasha's voice came from the direction of the clearing. Kagome sat up and looked back. Inuyasha stood at the top of the small rise that hid the clearing from view of the river. "Are you almost done with that last pot?" 

"Yeah, I'll be right there." 

The widening of Inuyasha's eyes gave Kagome a split second's warning, before she was seized from the side in the mouth of some large creature. It's jaws clamped over her midsection, squeezing the air out of her, even as her eyes pricked with tears at the pain of several teeth pressing painfully into her skin. 

The creature didn't break it's stride in the least when it grabbed Kagome, and within seconds they were well out of sight of the river. At last Kagome regained her breath, and let out a shrill scream. The creature shifted her in its mouth a little, rolling her so that the teeth bit into new spots, and the scream choked off in a sob. When the pain subsided enough to allow another breath, Kagome prepared to scream again. 

Before she'd even started, the creature suddenly opened it's mouth. Kagome dropped to the ground, her momentum causing her to roll in the dirt until she was stopped rather forcefully by a tree. 

Kagome drew two long, shuddering breaths, and then painfully opened her eyes. The underside of the creature's jaw was the first thing she saw. She jerked to a sitting position, tears flowing down her cheeks as various muscles complained loudly. She let out a sob of relief when she saw that the head was severed, the creature was dead. Looking beyond the head, she saw Inuyasha, holding a blood smattered sword and breathing heavily, standing among the scattered remains of the beast's body. 

Kagome returned her attention to the head, and was for the first time able to take note of what kind of creature had attacked her. It was hard to tell without the body, but the head looked like some sort of giant iguana creature. 

The head suddenly moved, the mouth opening slightly, and Kagome jumped back with a quick high scream. Trembling, she watched the head, jerking every time a scaled muscle twitched. Her eyes darted over it, and suddenly she realized she was seeing the glow of a jewel shard. She swallowed her fear and edged towards the head, getting just close enough to extract the shard. 

The flesh evaporated off the creature's skull as soon as the jewel was removed. Kagome felt the tension leave her as her attacker dissolved into the wind. She felt her mind darken and her body start to sway. She stayed conscious just long enough to register warm arms wrap around her, before she passed into oblivion. 

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

Kaede followed the road winding west, and reached the next town by nightfall. The town was abuzz with talk, and it took her all of five minutes to hear the story of how the town had been rescued by Prince Inuyasha, and his companions, the monk Miroku and the priestess Kagome, who had left town that morning, and had been seen entering the woods to the west. 

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

I hope you've enjoyed this chapter! Please R & R! 

Thanks all! 

-Silvanon 


	11. Journeyings

Christmas holidays slowed me down a bit in getting this out, so I apologize to those who have been waiting for this chapter. And I'm happy to report that I did manage to get all my Christmas shopping done, and that I had a very nice vacation in California visiting the in-laws. (smile) 

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Kagome or Miroku. On an unrelated note, I do own five newborn gerbils. Yay! Okay, on to the story! 

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

**Chapter 11: Journeyings **

Kaede bowed to Mr. Matsuno. "Thank you for allowing me to spend the night in your home." 

The kindly man bowed back, expressing his pleasure at being able to serve her. "Keiko will guide you, as you requested," he told her. He motioned his eldest daughter, a girl of ten, forward. The child eagerly took the old priestess's proffered hand, and guided her back to the point to the west of town where Kagome and her companions had been seen leaving the road. 

"You are certain this is the place, child?" she questioned the girl. 

Keiko nodded. "Yes, this is it. Most of the other people didn't see, but I followed longer and saw. Prince Inuyasha talked with the monk and the priestess, and then the Prince chased the monk into the woods here. The priestess followed, and that was the last we were able to see of them. 

Kaede thanked the girl for her account, then bent to study the ground around the indicated area. The ground around the road was hard-packed and dry, not the type of ground to carry prints long. She focused her study instead on the plants beside the road. After some searching, she found an area where people had passed through the grasses on the west side. The pattern of bend blades seemed to match Keiko's story. Kaede followed the trail as it lead towards the nearby trees. Underneath the branches, the grass petered out, leaving only twigs and dead leaves to form a trail. Kaede peered closer at the ground now, noticing freshly crushed twigs and disturbed leaves, and the occasional dusty footprint. At first it was obvious that the three party members were traveling at different speeds, over slightly different paths, and without clear purpose. After a half hour carefully following the trail, Kaede came upon the site of a small skirmish. It did not look like anything serious, and she guessed that Kagome had not been involved. From there the party had traveled together. This made the trail easier to find, however, it wound more, and soon lead to a rocky patch where no twigs or dust betrayed the party's direction. Kaede was soon forced to circle around the edges of the irregular patch, searching for signs of the group's passage. She finally found the trail at nearly a right angle to the direction they had entered the patch at. Kaede sighed in relief when she found the trail, and hurried along, hoping to make up for lost time. The second rocky patch took less time than the first, but the third rocky area was much more extensive, and Kaede was eventually forced to admit that she had lost the trail. It was obvious that Kagome's group was being led by someone who did not want to be tracked, and who was taking pains to prevent it. 

Kaede sat down on a large boulder to think a moment. This was truly a grave situation, but Kaede was never one to panic. Giving up on finding Kagome was not an option. Both her loyalty to her sovereign and her love for her charge dictated that she find the girl. Kaede knew that her presence had been greatly missed at the palace when King Higurashi had died. The Queen had assuredly ached for her support and guidance during that time, and she had longed to go to the bereaved Queen. She was certain that the knowledge of her daughter's safety was one of the few things that had sustained the Queen through the difficult years following the King's death. The kingdom had lost some of it's anxiety when Prince Souta had been born, since he assured an undisputed succession should something happen to the Princess, but Kaede knew it would kill the Queen to lose her daughter now. She must find Kagome, and she must do it quickly! 

She must also do it discretely. It was of the utmost importance that Naraku not discover the girl's location. He would surely try to harm the girl via any means possible if he knew her whereabouts. Kaede knew she couldn't ask the local villagers for help-it was already bad enough that they could tell the story of a fifteen year old girl traveling as a companion of Prince Inuyasha. If they were asked to make a special search for the girl, there would be no stopping the rumors and speculation. The other option was to enlist the Queen's aid in searching for the girl. It was a drastic measure, but the Queen would have servants who could be counted on to hold their tongues. Also, if Prince Inuyasha was headed towards his home, as Kaede rather suspected, it would take all the Eastern Kingdom's prestige to gain entrance into the demon stronghold. It was decided, then. Kaede would go to the Queen. 

The old woman returned to the village, and after some questioning, located a villager willing to sell her a horse. It was a quiet beast, rather unkempt, and a little taller than Kaede liked. It held still, however, as Kaede forced her old muscles to haul her body up into the saddle, and her moments of careful settling as she tried to placate her protesting bones, and she decided it was quite a nice horse after all. Kaede tried to clamp down on her worries as she directed horse's hooves towards the Eastern Palace road. 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

Kagome woke slowly. Her entire body was sore, and several points along her sides were throbbing painfully. The tight feeling of wraps around her midsection let her know that the wounds had already been dressed. She shifted slightly, but quickly gave it up with a hiss of pain. After a moment's rest, she opened her eyes and blinked blearily up at the anxious face hovering over her. Firelight flickered over it's features, creating odd moving shadows. Kagome stared into the golden eyes for several seconds before remembering who they belonged to. "Hi Inuyasha," her voice emerged small and creaky. 

"Hey, are you alright?" Inuyasha asked her true worry in his voice. 

Kagome, struck by the uncharacteristic display of concern, raised a trembling hand and gave his arm a small squeeze. "I'm alive thanks to you," she whispered to him. 

Inuyasha blanched at her words. "I should have been quicker." 

He moved away before Kagome could muster a response. She could hear a bit of clanking going on from the direction of the fire, and after a moment he returned with a steaming bowl in hand. "I've got some broth for you, do you feel up to eating it?" he queried her. She didn't feel like eating much, but she thought she could probably handle broth. She nodded. "Good," Inuyasha said immediately, sounding a bit relieved. He slid one arm under her shoulders and gently propped her up. The movement caused her to sides to twinge in pain, and she drew in a sharp breath. "Sorry," Inuyasha told her. He gave her a moment, and then raised the bowl to her lips. She took a sip. 

She nearly spat it back out again. It was way too salty, and carried a burnt flavor difficult to attain in broth. She swallowed it with difficulty. "This is awful," she complained, working her mouth in an attempt to dispel the aftertaste. 

"Well excuse me if I'm not the best cook," Inuyasha replied defensively. Kagome's gaze wandered over to where Miroku sat on the other side of the fire. Inuyasha noticed the direction of her gaze. "He's even worse, though, so don't even think of asking him to cook," he growled out. Kagome wondered how it was possible for the monk to be a worse cook, but decided she didn't want to find out. 

Inuyasha interrupted her contemplations by putting the bowl to her mouth again. "You need to eat," he told her crossly. Kagome heaved a small sigh, realized he was right, and braved another sip. 

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

The next morning Kagome woke feeling a lot stiffer, but in less pain than the night before. Very carefully she sat up, and found that she could. She smiled at her small triumph, and determined that she would make the best of the situation today. 

Breakfast tried her resolve, as it turned out to be cold leftover broth. 

Inuyasha and Miroku took care of breaking camp, and Kagome found she was happy to let them. She worried how she would manage to keep up today, as Inuyasha obviously meant for them to travel. Her worries were somewhat lessened when she saw Miroku carefully arranging her things to fit in his own pack. 

Kagome saw that everything was ready to go, and struggled to her feet. Inuyasha saw her and hurried over. She wondered what he would say, but he simply put his back to her and crouched down. 

Kagome stared for a minute, wondering what he was doing. "Um." 

"Get on." 

"What?" 

"Get on," Inuyasha repeated. "We need to get moving, but you're in no condition to be hiking around. Get on, I'll carry you today." 

Kagome paused still. It was true that she hadn't been very respectful of Inuyasha and his position up until now, but this made even her hesitate. Was it really okay to let a Prince of the Western Realm, proudest of the kingdoms, carry a lowly peasant girl around on his back? Kagome pondered this, before finally giving a mental shrug. He was the one offering, and in any case, there was no one around to see. 

Gingerly she climbed onto his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck loosely, and he reached down and gripped her behind the knees, giving her a more secure support. As soon as she was settled Inuyasha stood up. "Alright?" he questioned. 

"Yeah," Kagome responded, glad that he couldn't see her reddened cheeks. 

"Let's go!" 

They set off at a brisk walking pace. Miroku shot a questioning glance at Inuyasha, who was quick to interpret the look. "If we move too fast it'll jostle Kagome," he explained. "I don't want her wounds reopening." 

"Ah," Miroku said. "That's very considerate of you." 

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Inuyasha. Kagome had been enjoying his unusually good temper that morning, and sighed to hear the grumpiness returning to his voice. 

"Everything okay?" Inuyasha asked her with quick concern. Both Kagome and Miroku noted the rapid switch with silent surprise. 

"Oh, um, yes, I'm fine," Kagome managed a reply. 

"Good," Inuyasha responded decidedly. 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

The party kept up a good pace until mid-afternoon, when Kagome found the call of nature becoming unbearable. She requested to be let down, and was able to hobble away into the trees. 

As soon as she was out of hearing, Miroku shot a penetrating glance at Inuyasha. "You seem a bit preoccupied," he observed. 

Inuyasha's mouth pulled into a frown, his brows creasing together, and he turned slightly away. 

"Would you care to share what is bothering you?" Miroku prodded further. 

"I just...don't like it." Inuyasha replied finally. "There was something off about the attack yesterday." 

"I didn't sense anything unusual about it," Miroku pondered. 

"Yeah, I haven't figured out what it is yet. Something just doesn't feel right." 

"Hum, well, you do have superior sense to my own. I don't think we're likely to find any further clues about your feeling, but it would be best for us both to be alert." Miroku paused, considering. "Do you think we should inform Kagome about it?" 

"Naw, I don't want her to get all worried and stuff. If you and I are working on it, we'll figure it out." 

After a few minutes more, Kagome came hobbling back. She reported having spotted a berry patch nearby, so the group ended up eating those for lunch. With satisfied stomachs they then continued on. 

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

I'll take a minute here to answer a few questions that have come up in the reviews. 

Q: So, Kikyo and Kagome are the same person in this story, right?

A: Yes. Another way to think about it is that only Kagome exists in this story, but she went by a different name as a baby. 

Q: Are you going to put Sango in this story?

A: Yes, she'll definitely have an important part in the story. I actually had expected to get her in already, but the story seems to be taking it's own time about that. You can expect to be seeing her soon, though! 

Q: Are you going to put Shippo in this story?

A: Yes, in fact, he's already made an appearance. (Check out chapter eight.) I'm not sure right now how much more he'll be in the story, but at least some. 

A great big Thank You to everyone who has reviewed! It's great to hear everyone's thoughts on the story! 

Here's wishing Happy Holidays to you all! 

-Silvanon 


	12. Bad to Better and Back Again

Yay, another chapter done! I hope you all enjoy it! But first, the disclaimer: 

Disclaimer: I disclaim. 

o 

o 

o 

**Chapter 12: Bad to Better and Back Again**

o 

o 

o 

Kagome's eyes blinked open to a view of leafy tree branches, blue sky, and the occasional cloud. She experienced a moment of disorientation before remembering where she was. "That's right, I've been traveling with Inuyasha." She carefully sat up and took a look around. Someone had already started the morning fire, but neither Inuyasha nor Miroku was in evidence at the moment. Kagome took the opportunity to investigate her injuries. "Hum, they're healing up quickly. It's only been about three days, but all I have is some red spots now," she thought as she poked at her side. She twisted her body experimentally. "I'm not nearly as sore, either. I think I can walk on my own today. Of course, I'll still have to convince Inuyasha of that." Kagome smiled to herself as she remembered the half-demon's solicitous behavior. 

"Well, time to get up!" she told herself as she rolled out of her blanket. "I think I'm well enough to make breakfast today." That thought instantly put her in a good mood. She started humming to herself, a bright happy tune that started out as wandering notes, but eventually resolved itself around a few lyrics. "No more icky food, no more salty food, no more charcoal food, no more Inuyasha food!" 

"You didn't have to eat it if you hated it that much!" The gruffly offended voice emerging from the bushes made Kagome jump guiltily. 

"Oh! I'm sorry Inuyasha!" Kagome put on her best contrite expression as she watched him approach. 

"Well, now that I know how you feel about it, you can just make all our meals from now on!" Inuyasha practically snarled at her, and threw down the tubers in his arms. 

"Fine!" Kagome turned from him in a huff. She was willing to make the meals, wanting to in fact, but he didn't have to say it that way! Angrily she reached for one of the tubers scattered on the ground, and began hacking at it. As she mutilated the tuber, her mind relived every insult Inuyasha had offered her since she'd met him. It kept her good and angry, until her mind decided to play a trick on her and bring up a different memory. She remembered last night, sitting to one side of the fire and watching Inuyasha cook. Her mind replayed to her in detail his intense look of concentration as he tried to chop the radishes just right. The meal still turned out awful, but she knew he'd really tried. A tiny voice in the back of her mind whispered that he looked adorable when he was concentrating. Kagome sighed, knowing what she had to do. 

"Inuyahsa, I'm sorry." 

Inuyasha, who was stitting with his back to her, looked around with a surprised expression. "What was that?" 

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha. I should be more grateful for how you've taken care of me the past few days." 

"Heh, you're finally getting it!" Inuyasha triumphed. 

Kagome decided not to get angry at his tone, and instead just smiled, shook her head, and went back to slicing the tuber. 

Miroku returned laden with a pair of full buckets soon after, and the group made a meal of toasted tuber slices and water. Inuyasha and Miroku were quick to snatch up the thinly sliced ones, leaving Kagome with her mutilated tuber chunks. She decided it was her own fault for getting angry and cutting them that way, so she said nothing. 

When it was nearly time to go, Miroku approached Kagome. "I would be honored if you would allow me to carry you today." 

"Oh no you don't!" Kagome instantly cried out. "We tried that yesterday. I'm not letting you anywhere near me!" Miroku put on his best innocent expression and opened his mouth to say something, but Kagome cut him off. "Besides, I'm well enough to walk today, so I'm not going to be carried at all." 

At this point Inuyasha saw fit to interject. "You're going to slow us down girl. Just let me carry you." 

Kagome turned to him. "Thank you for the offer, but my feet work fine." She gave him an overly bright smile and started walking. 

Miroku watched her walking off. "It appears she has her mind set. Oh well, nothing we can do!" With his eyes still glued to Kagome, he moved to follow her. 

"You just want to watch her rear end since she won't let you carry her," Inuyasha grumbled. 

Miroku looked back at him. "I always appreciate a beautiful view," he commented. 

Inuyasha growled to himself and followed after them. 

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

Two hours later Kagome was beginning to wish that she had let Inuyasha carry her. She'd starting out fine, but now the muscles in her side spasmed with every step. She contemplated calling a halt, but was sure Inuyasha wouldn't allow it. She scowled, imagining what he'd say. As the conversation in her mind progressed, she started getting angry. "Why that inconsiderate jerk! Why won't he let us stop? Can't he see I'm in pain. I ought to whack him upside the head for being so rude!" she thought to herself furiously. 

A concerned voice interrupted her internal ranting. "Hey, you don't look so good. Do you need a break?" Kagome looked up to find worried gold eyes peering at her. Her anger deflated instantly, leaving her feeling small and childish instead. 

"Could we stop for a bit?" Kagome responded meekly. 

"Sure," replied Inuyasha. "There's some logs just up ahead you can sit on." Kagome offered him a wan smile, at which he hurried ahead to the logs. By the time Kagome had trudged over to them, Inuyasha had a spot picked out for her to sit on. She allowed him to guide her to it, and gratefully sat down. 

"Much better," she sighed. 

Inuyasha sat down beside her, and was silent for several minutes. He fidgeted with a twig he'd picked up, twirling it around in his fingers. "Hey Kagome, if you like I can carry you for awhile," he finally offered. 

Kagome was too grateful for his offer to feel surprised. "Thank you, Inuyasha," she responded feelingly. "Can I still rest a few minutes?" 

Inuyasha nodded. He continued to sit on the log, swinging his feet idly as he waited for her. Suddenly his head snapped up, and he sniffed the air intently. "I think…" 

Inuyasha didn't finish his sentence. At that moment a bull demon came thundering down upon them. It headed straight towards them, head lowered, pointed horns gleaming as it charged. Inuyasha immediately jumped out of the way, but Kagome was slower. She managed to get to her feet and tried to move away, but in her hurry tripped over a branch protruding from the log. The bull's head passed over her, but it's shoulder slammed into hers, throwing her violently. A shower of wood chips flew after her as the bull charged straight through the log she'd been sitting on. 

The bull's momentum carried it a ways into the trees, giving Kagome time to gather herself before it came charging back. It headed straight towards her, ignoring the other two. Kagome barely managed to scramble out of it's path, and was thrown down again by the wind of it passing. 

She was quicker to recover this time and was on her feet again before the bull had time to turn around. "Gotta act quick!" she told herself. Hurriedly she unslung her bow and quiver from her pack, and took aim at the demon. It was already halfway back to her. "No time!" she thought desperately as she released her arrow. Amazingly the arrow flew true, but the past few days had left her drained, and it carried almost no spiritual energy. It hit the beast in the neck, where it sunk in, sizzling instead of exploding like it should have done. 

Her shot didn't leave enough time for her to get out of the bull's way this time. Kagome shut her eyes at the last second, expecting to be gored. Something hit into her from the right, grabbing her around the waist and jerking her to the side. She opened her eyes to see that Inuyasha had caught her up in the nick of time. 

Kagome could see the bull over Inuyasha's shoulder. It started to chase after them, but turned when Miroku attacked it from behind. Miroku hit it several times with his staff, then threw several holy paper charms at it. The charms hit its body and the flesh disintegrated around them. Inuyasha set Kagome down, and then sprang towards the bull. He took advantage of its weakened state and gave it a finishing blow. 

Kagome saw that the bull was dead and hobbled back towards her companions. She could tell that her entire right side was already turning purple. "And I was finally getting better!" she bemoaned. Her stomach turned when she saw the body of the bull, but she approached and gave it as hard a kick as she could manage. "Stupid bull." She was about to hobble away, when her priestess senses finally decided to kick in. "Huh?" she said in surprise. She reached down and extracted a jewel shard from the back of the bull's neck. "I'm more worn out than I thought, I didn't even sense this!" she exclaimed. 

Inuyasha jerked at her words. "The bull had a jewel shard?" he demanded. 

"Yeah," replied Kagome. Suddenly she felt completely drained. She looked around for the log she'd sat on earlier, but the remembered the bull had shattered it. She sighed tiredly and gingerly lowered herself to sit at the base of a tree instead. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, too tired to even think. 

She listened absently to the others taking care of the demon carcass. They debated for a few minutes about the best way to dispose of it, and finally settled on burning it. The crackle of flames and the scent of smoke let her know when they had the fire going. 

The scent of the fire was gag-worthy, but Kagome refused to open her eyes or move until she felt Inuyasha come stand over her. He gathered her in his arms and picked her up bridal style. "We're getting out of here," he said gruffly. He took off at a run, going much faster than he had ever carried her before. Kagome peeked over his shoulder to see Miroku following behind them. She signed and snuggled down against Inuyasha's chest, content for the moment. 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

After about an hour of traveling, Inuyasha slowed and then stopped. Kagome woke up, and realized she'd been asleep. She gathered her bearings enough to stay steady when Inuyasha set her on her feet. "We're finally away from that awful smell," Inuyasha explained. "I'll carry you normally now." He bent down and waited for Kagome to get on. 

Kagome nodded and obediently climbed on his back. It was routine now, and they arranged themselves with minimal fuss. Absently Kagome wondered what Kaede would say if she knew it had become routine for her ward to ride on Prince Inuyasha's back. The thought made Kagome smile, and she had to stifle a giggle lest it annoy Inuyasha. 

They traveled that way for a few minutes before passing into a largish clearing. Kagome looked up, happy to see the sky, and saw a large winged creature overhead. It had a funny shape, she noticed. The main mass was round, but there was something sticking up on top, almost like it was a giant bird with a rider. She was about to point it out to her companions, when it suddenly dived towards them. Kagome let out a startled yip. Inuyasha started to turn, but the bird was already upon them. Its large talons grabbed Kagome by the shoulders, and with a heavy beat of wings, carried her aloft. 

"Hey!" Inuyasha shouted, the sound diminishing as the bird carried Kagome higher. 

She craned her neck upwards, and saw that what she had thought might be a rider was actually a human-like torso jutting out of the strange bird's forehead. "That's gross and this is ridiculous," Kagome said to herself. She was just tired of it all. Without taking time to think about it, she grabbed an arrow from the pack still on her back, and jabbed it upwards into the bird's abdomen. 

The arrow again failed to explode, but it did sizzle like before. Kagome gave it a sharp twist. The bird cried out and released its hold on her. Kagome felt herself falling, and suddenly realized that perhaps she hadn't come up with the best of plans. 

As she fell towards the ground, she looked to her right and saw another jewel shard, falling with her. She reached out and grabbed it, feeling the last of her energy flow out to purify it. She wondered briefly why she was bothering. 

Her relief was incredible when she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her. "Inuyasha!" she gasped out. "Thank goodness!" 

o 

o 

o

* * *

A very big thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter! I really enjoyed hearing what you all had to say. (smile) I know a lot of you are anxious to see Sango, so I'm sorry I didn't get to her part yet. She really ought to be making an entrance soon. 

In the meantime, please review! 

Silvanon 


	13. Troubling Thoughts

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Naraku, or anybody else mentioned in this chapter. 

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

**Chapter 13: Troubling Thoughts**

Inuyasha managed to direct his fall enough to land on one of the upper branches of the trees below. Unfortunately, with Kagome's weight added to his own, the branch gave way upon impact. The following branches did the same, and Inuyasha's decent was not stopped until he hit the ground. He lay there, flat on his back with Kagome on top of him, for several minutes. Eventually a small whimper escaped him, but fortunately Kagome was still unconscious and unable to hear him. "What did I do to deserve this?" Inuyasha thought to himself miserably. His spine gave an ominous pop in response. 

"Inuyasha!" Miroku's voice called in the distance. Inuyasha couldn't summon the breath to answer back, so he just lay there instead. "Inuyasha?" the voice sounded closer this time. Miroku must have seen where they fell. Inuyasha finally managed another whimper, and Miroku came hurrying at the sound. 

"Inuyasha! Is Lady Kagome alright?" 

The concern in Miroku's voice grated on Inuyasha's nerves. "How should I know?" he managed to snap out. "I just got pummeled by a tree, and every inch of me hurts." 

"You'll be fine in a few hours," Miroku replied, all business as he rolled Kagome off of Inuyasha. The girl was still unconscious. "No surprise there, after what she's been through" Miroku told himself. He checked her over, and found that she had managed to escape her latest adventure with only a few more bruises and scrapes. "I'm surprised she's not in worse condition," he thought, surprised. He gently set Kagome down, and went to lend a shoulder to Inuyasha, who was now trying to get up. 

Inuyasha managed to get to his feet with Miroku's help, but quickly pushed the monk away. "I'm alright," he growled. "Get Kagome. We need to go somewhere safe right away." 

Miroku felt concerned for his friend, but saw the determination in Inuyasha's eyes and moved to do as he said. "I think I spotted a cave not too far from here," he offered. Inuyasha nodded curtly, so Miroku gathered up Kagome and headed in the direction of the cave. He wisely pretended not to notice how Inuyasha limped painfully after him. 

Several long minutes later they arrived at the cave. It was really more of a hollow in a hillside than a full-blown cave, but it was better than being out in the open, and Inuyasha didn't think he could handle trying to find another spot to stay. Miroku gently arranged Kagome on the cave floor, using her pack as a pillow, while Inuyasha sank to a sitting position against the wall. Miroku straightened and glanced at Inuyasha, who was frowning at the still unconscious Kagome. "I'll go get our packs from the meadow," he told the half-demon. "You stay here and protect Kagome." 

"Right," Inuyasha nodded. 

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

Miroku returned some time latter, laden with both his pack and Inuyasha's. He found everything the same as he'd left it-Kagome asleep, and Inuyasha staring at her intently, a worried expression on his face. 

"Hey Miroku, have you noticed it?" he asked quietly. 

"Noticed?" Miroku questioned. 

"The pattern to the attacks." 

"Ah, you mean how Lady Kagome has been the focus of the recent attacks." Miroku sat down next to Inuyasha, and joined him in staring at Kagome. 

"Yeah," Inuyasha's voice became more concerned. "What do you make of it?" 

Miroku paused a moment before speaking. "It's clear that Kagome has been the focus of the attacks, but the attacker's motives have not been clear. There could be several explanations for their behavior. The simplest reason is the most likely, to my mind. Lady Kagome is carrying several jewel shards. The shards would naturally attract lesser demons, especially those who already have a shard themselves. 

"Maybe," replied Inuyasha. "But if that's true, then why didn't I get attacked while I was carrying shards? And why have we suddenly run into so many shard-carrying demons. Before I met Kagome, I'd only managed to collect a total of three jewel shards. That's with _years_ of actively searching for them. Now with Kagome, we've collected five shards in just a week! It's like demons with shards are flocking to us!" 

"Perhaps the jewel shards are more attractive now that they have a weaker owner?" offered Miroku. "A half-demon with renown strength might make lesser demons hesitate to attack, where they would not hesitate over a human." 

"That might have been true for the lizard demon, but I was right next to Kagome all day yesterday, and she still got attacked." 

"Hum…you may be right that there is something more going on here," pondered Miroku. 

"But what is it?" Inuyasha asked in a frustrated tone. 

"Have you ever wondered, Inuyasha, why Naraku would shatter the Shikon Jewel?" Miroku took a different vein. 

"So he could curse Princes Kikyo," Inuyasha shrugged, wondering where Miroku was going with this line of thought. 

"True," said Miroku, "But that's not the only reason. Naraku is a being that enjoys causing pain and suffering for other people. With the jewel whole, Naraku had immense power. However, the effects of that power were limited to a single location." 

"So, you're saying that Naraku shattered the jewel to spread it's power out over a wider location." 

"Correct," Miroku replied. 

"Okay, I get that. The jewel shatters, demons pick up pieces and start wreaking havoc on local villages with their newfound powers. But what does it have to do with Kagome?" 

Miroku nodded at Inuyasha's assessment. "It's true that the jewel shards cause plenty of pain and suffering on their own, but that's not the only benefit Naraku receives." 

"Go on," Inuyasha encouraged with morbid fascination. 

"The jewel shards also give Naraku some control over the demons that use them. Particularly the lesser demons, which are already pretty mindless." 

Inuyasha stared at Miroku in horror. "You're saying that these jewel shards have created a demon army for Naraku!" 

"He doesn't have total control over them, but in effect, yes." 

"So you think Naraku might be using the jewel shards to force lesser demons into attacking Kagome." 

Miroku sighed. "I sincerely hope that it's not the case, but we must consider it as a possibility." 

The two fell silent, both staring at Kagome as the troubling thought circled around their minds. Miroku came out of his reverie first. "The real question is, why would Naraku want to hurt Kagome? Why would he put so much effort into attacking her specifically." 

"I don't know," Inuyasha contemplated. "She seems normal enough, just a simple peasant girl training to be a priestess. She's not anything that should threaten someone like Naraku." 

Miroku's brow furrowed, but he remained silent. Finally Inuyasha spoke again. "Do you think we should ask her?" 

Miroku instantly shook his head no. "I've been observing her closely over the past few days. She doesn't seem like someone who's hiding something. And she seemed genuinely surprised by the attacks. I don't think she knows even as much as we do. Right now she has at least a little piece of mind. If we ask her about it, we'll have to explain ourselves, and then she'll have to live in fear." 

Inuyasha nodded. "Okay, so we won't ask her or tell her. We're going to have to make doubly sure to keep her safe, then." 

"Yes, I agree," Miroku said. "We can't afford to let Kagome get hurt again. Protecting her should be our first priority until we figure out why Naraku is after her." 

"It's agreed then." 

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I plan to have another one ready soon, but in the meantime please review and tell me what you think! 

Thanks again, everyone! 

Silvanon 


	14. Going Crazy

Just a quick note before I get on to this chapter. I want to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter, and hand out a couple awards! A special deluxe virtual cookie goes to RiaKitsuneYoukai for being the 100th reviewer! Another special deluxe virtual cookie goes to pangie-06 for reminding me that new Inuyasha episodes are on now. I almost forgot to watch them, and that would have been truly tragic!! 

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha & co. 

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

**Chapter 14: Going Crazy**

They were doing it again. At first Kagome had thought it was sweet of them. Well, sweet of Inuyasha, anyway. Miroku had weirded her out from the beginning. Now it was not only weird, it was downright annoying. It was like they didn't think she could be trusted to take care of herself. Somehow the thought made her feel homesick. Kagome could suddenly feel the sensation of tears gathering. She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and blinked rapidly, trying to dispel them. She was not going to cry in front of these two…these two _mother hens_! "Quit hovering over me!" she finally snapped. 

Miroku jumped away from her guiltily, but Inuyasha stayed firmly glued to his place hovering over her shoulder. He was so close, his walking momentum carried him right into Kagome when she stopped. Kagome pushed him away with stiff arms. "I appreciate the concern, really, but I'm not helpless and I don't like you treating me this way." Kagome glared at Inuyasha, trying to catch his eye so she could drive home what she was saying. 

Inuyasha turned his head to avoid her, and responded with the now-tiresome "Keh!" 

Kagome leaned towards him with her arms stiff at her sides. "Will you stop saying that?!" 

"Keh." 

Kagome's eyes narrowed further. She stood stock still and glared at Inuyasha, determined to make him acknowledge her. Then she noticed Miroku taking advantage to try and sidle up to his old position again. 

"Oooo!" She shot Miroku a quick glare before stalking off. It didn't help cool her temper any when both men immediately followed. 

After about two minutes of playing the unwanted "follow-the-leader" game, Kagome stopped again. She took a deep breath to calm herself, and then turned around to face her companions. "Ten minutes." Miroku and Inuyasha both opened their mouths, but Kagome continued, "I'm only asking for ten minutes. I understand that this is a dangerous area, and I know we've been attacked a lot, but I haven't had a second's privacy in nearly a week! I just need a few minutes by myself." 

The two men closed their mouths and looked uneasily at each other. Finally Miroku shrugged at glanced away. Inuyasha looked down at his feet. One ear stayed pinned on Kagome, but the other twitched around in agitation. 

Kagome folded her arms and shifted her weight. "Well?" she questioned. 

Inuyasha looked up at Kagome. "Two minutes." 

Kagome's heart lifted inside her, but she kept her expression firm. "Eight." 

"Three." 

"Seven." 

"Five." 

Kagome paused, then nodded. "Five minutes." She smiled at Inuyasha happily. 

Inuyasha pretended not to notice her smile and simply growled out "You call me if you feel even a twinge of demonic energy." 

"Will do!" Kagome practically bounced away from them. 

"She doesn't have to look so happy to leave me," Inuyasha muttered to himself. 

"Ah, don't worry Inuyasha." Miroku clapped a hand to Inuyasha's shoulder. "Your love won't be unrequited for forever." The monk deftly dodged the blow aimed at him. 

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

It was with great relief that Kaede saw before her the familiar towers of the Eastern palace. "It's been far too long," she thought to herself, surprised to find it felt like she was coming home, even after all these years. "Unfortunately it is not to be a happy homecoming," she reminded herself. Still, she gave her horse a cheerful pat on the neck, and encouraged him to move a little faster. 

She felt the tingle of passing through the Palace's traditional priestess barrier far sooner than she had anticipated. "They've enlarged the barrier," she realized. "Perhaps there are more troubles in the East than I am aware of." 

The guards at the city entrance let her pass with only a cursory glance in her direction, and Kaede soon arrived at the gates of the Palace proper. She stopped several yards away from the gate and studied the guards posted there. She recognized none of them. Good. Hopefully they wouldn't recognize her either. She approached the younger looking of the two guards. "I come seeking employment as a Priestesses of the Royal Family," she told him. 

The young man looked at her skeptically, noticing her Priestess's clothing, but also noticing her aged appearance. "I don't think the royal family is interested in grandmas, old woman." 

Kaede raised a brow. "And is that your position to decide?" 

The man shook his head in good humor. "No, no, that's not my decision. If you want to hear it from the Queen's lips, you're welcome to. She has the final say." 

Kaede nodded firmly. "Let me pass, then." 

The guard opened the door and called a courier to him. Another young man came hurrying over. "Hey, take grandma here to the Queen. She wants to be a Royal Priestess." 

The courier looked at Kaede the same way the guard had, but he motioned her to follow him. "You'll have to pass inspection first, and then you can take your application to the Queen." The young man glanced over his shoulder at Kaede, saw her impatient frown, and smiled. "It shouldn't take long." 

Kaede was lead down several halls and finally into a small room, where she was directed to take a seat and wait. After several moments, a young Priestess appeared. Kaede saw with relief that the girl was too young to have known her during her time at the Palace. The Priestess quickly inspected Kaede and her belongings, questioned her as to her motives, and pronounced her safe. "My name is Takeda," the young woman told Kaede. "I will take you to the Queen now." Kaede bowed her gratitude. 

Kaede walked with the Priestess for a few moments before venturing a question. "Is it long since applicants have been inspected when visiting the Queen?" 

"It is a more recent practice," Takeda confirmed. "We are not as trusting now as we once were." 

Kaede nodded in understanding. "These are dangerous times." 

"Yes," Takeda agreed. "I am glad you are come to apply. I can tell you have strong spiritual powers, and we need all the strength we can get." 

The pair continued in silence until they came to what Kaede recognized as the Queen's door. Takeda knocked smartly on the door post. "Takeda, my lady," she called out. 

"Please come," came the answer from within. Takeda opened the door, and Kaede followed her inside the room. The Queen was standing at a window overlooking the town. She turned from the view to look at the women entering her apartment. If she was surprised to see Kaede, she hide it completely. "Yes?" 

"Your Highness, this woman comes seeking to become a Priestess of the Royal Family," Takeda announced. 

The Queen nodded. "I will speak to this woman alone. Thank you, Takeda." The young woman bowed low and withdrew. As soon as she was gone, the Queen's face changed completely. She rushed forward and embraced Kaede in a fierce hug. "Kaede!" 

Seeing her old friend opened the flood gates to the Queen's tightly held emotions. She sobbed into the older woman's shoulder, her throat too tight to speak. Kaede wrapped her arms around the Queen and rocked her gently until she calmed. At last the Queen pulled back. She drew a handkerchief from a pocket and dabbed her face dry. Finally she met Kaede's eye. "It's so good to see you, Kaede, and yet your presence makes me fearful," the Queen told her frankly. "Do you have my daughter with you?" 

Kaede shook her head at the eager inquiry. "I do not. I'm afraid that's the reason I've come to you." 

"Something has happened to Kikyo." The Queen's eyes widened and she swayed dangerously. Kaede quickly grabbed the Queen's elbow and gently helped her sit down. She took one of the Queen's trembling hands in her own and softly massaged it. 

"I do not currently know the Princess's whereabouts, but I do not believe any harm has come to her," Kaede said as she gently soothed the Queen. 

The Queen took a deep breath, and then nodded. "Tell me everything." 

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

The Queen listened to Kaede's story with alternate feelings of fear and happiness. When the old woman was finished, the Queen hardly knew what to feel. 

"So, Kikyo is traveling with Prince Inuyasha, then." 

Kaede nodded. "So it would seem." 

The Queen's face softened. "I met him once. What a nice boy!" She pondered for a moment before continuing. "I suppose it's good for Kikyo to have time to get to know her intended. He doesn't know who she is, though. Did the villagers say anything of how he treated her?" 

"Not badly, I think," Kaede responded slowly. "Though I got the impression the girl might be trying to provoke him a little. She can be like that at times." 

"Really?" the Queen smiled. "It's so good to hear about Kikyo. I've often wondered what type of person she has become." 

Kaede smiled in sympathy. "She's a wonderful girl, my lady. I don't think you'll be disappointed." 

The Queen's smile broadened for a moment, but her expression soon turned serious. "My daughter is in grave danger now. Naraku knows her location and we do not. We have no hope of protecting her until she is found and brought here. You say you don't know where she was traveling to?" 

Kaede felt a shock go through her when the Queen spoke Naraku's name, but she put it aside for the moment to answer the question. "It's true that I don't know for certain where her group was going," replied Kaede. "However, I had time to think it over. Prince Inuyasha was leading the party, and they were headed west when last seen. I have a strong suspicion that they are headed towards the Prince's home, the Western Palace." 

"I have a feeling you are correct, Kaede. That's where we'll start the search for Kikyo, then." 

The Queen paused a moment, and began tapping her lips with a forefinger. Kaede took advantage of the pause. "What causes you to believe Naraku knows of the girl's whereabouts?" 

"I received a letter from him several days ago," replied the Queen. She rose and went to a small desk where her letters were kept, and shuffled among the papers until she found Naraku's. She handed it to Kaede and returned to her seated position. 

Kaede silently read the letter, and handed it back to the Queen when she was done. "This is very bad news. We must find and protect the Princess immediately." 

Queen Higurashi nodded in agreement. "I must think carefully who to send. The search party will leave at dawn tomorrow." 

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

Thanks everyone for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! 

Silvanon 


	15. Captain of the Guard

I got lots of wonderful reviews for last chapter. Thanks so much, everyone! 

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is not yet mine. Not yet, but someday….. (plots) 

**Chapter 15: Captain of the Guard**

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

The firelight flickered dimly over the Queen Higurashi's features as she sat in her apartment. Kaede, being tired from her long journey, had retired already, leaving the Queen alone. The Queen sighed softly. Who could she trust with this most important assignment? Who of those she trusted was best equipped to handle the situation? She had settled with Kaede earlier that the search party should be small. If they sent an army, Naraku would respond in kind, and they would by no means be assured of victory. Not to mention that the Western Kingdom would see it as an attack if she were to send an army to the Western Palace's door. Inutaisho was an ally that Queen Higurashi could not afford to alienate. She was well aware that he was influential in keeping her on the throne when her husband had died. So, a small party it must be. 

The Queen sighed again. Almost immediately, a knock came at the door. "Shippo, my lady," her advisor announced himself. 

"Come in, Shippo," she responded. 

The fox demon poked his head in the door. "I heard a noise," he explained. "You're still awake." 

The Queen smiled at the gentle reproof in his voice. "I know, Shippo, but I have a decision that must be made tonight." 

Shippo gave her an enquiring look. "May I be of service?" 

The Queen nodded, grateful for his offer. "Kaede returned to the palace tonight." 

Shippo exclaimed softly in surprise. "She has returned? What has happened?" The Queen explained to him what she had learned from Kaede. Shippo listened, his expression growing grave as he heard the details. When she had finished, he should his head. "We have been lucky. The Princess could have ended up in a far worse situation. Still, you are correct that we must act without delay to assure her safety. Who will you send in the search party?" 

The Queen ran a hand through her hair, then caught the end of one tendril and began twisting it. "That is what I must decide. I have been considering sending the Captain of the Guard, but I'm not sure if she's the right choice. Whoever I send must be welcome in the Western Palace, and Sango has earned herself a reputation as a slayer of demons." 

Shippo nodded. "She is one of your finest warriors, and the Princess must have strong people to protect her. I think you should send her." 

"How then will be secure her welcome in the Western Palace?" asked Queen Higurashi. She looked at Shippo with an open expression, trusting him to find an answer to the problem. 

Shippo considered the difficulty for a moment. "The Western Palace is run by demons," he ventured. "If she is to be accepted, they must know that she can be friendly to demons." He paused, and then continued in a lighter tone. "I suppose she'll just have to arrive in the company of a demon." 

"You are saying that I should include a demon in the search party," the Queen said, "but you are the only demon in my court." She looked Shippo in the eye, trying to read him. "Are you offering to go?" 

Shippo smiled and offered the Queen a small bow. "If you see fit to send me, my Queen, I would be honored to serve." 

The Queen returned Shippo's smile, and surprised him by tugging him into a quick embrace. "I know you will do everything you can to protect my daughter. Thank you." 

Shippo ducked his head to hide his blush. "You've been like a mother to me when I had none. I'll do everything I can for you and your daughter." 

Queen Higurashi blinked back the tears threatening to fall, and simply nodded. 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

Sango didn't let her tiredness show until she had entered her own room and shut the door. Once she was inside, away from the ever watchful, ever adoring eyes of her underlings, she finally let her shoulders slump, let her feet drag the way they'd been threatening to for the past hour. She couldn't, and wouldn't, let the soldiers under her command see that she was ever tired, but today had felt unusually long. Wearily she readied herself for bed. Despite her protesting body, she didn't skip any steps in her carefully maintained routine. Finally she was able to lay down. 

She closed her eyes, but sleep didn't come immediately. Instead, her mind wandered back to her mother. "You'll never get a man if you don't take some time to be a girl," said her mother's distant voice. Sango snorted and rolled over. Of course she'd remember something like that after a day like today. What did her mother know? She'd get a man. Eventually. When she was ready. Sango realized her eyes were open, and closed them again firmly, determined to go to sleep. 

She was nearly there, when a sharp rap at the door jerked her to full consciousness again. She briefly considered strangling whoever dared to knock on her door at this awful hour. "Sango, it's Shippo! Can I come in?" 

Shippo. Too fast. It'd take too much effort to strangle him. "Come in," Sango called. 

Shippo practically bounced into her room, but stopped short when he saw her glare. "Oh, did I wake you?" Shippo's eyes grew wide. "Wow, I didn't think you ever slept!" He deftly avoided the pillow she threw at him. 

Sango found herself grumpily wondering if she'd been wrong to let the fox have such a casual relationship with her. He could certainly make a nuisance of himself when he wasn't trying to act dignified and reserved. "What are you here for?" she asked him gruffly. 

Shippo turned suddenly serious, surprising Sango. She sat up and listened intently. "We're going on a trip. We leave tomorrow morning," he told her. "Our mission is to find and protect Princess Kikyo." 

Sango felt the breath leave her lungs. "That is important. Why now? And how in the world will we even start looking for her?" She sounded overwhelmed. 

Shippo patted Sango on the arm in understanding, answered her questions. "The Princess was safe before, but now Naraku has found her again. Or, at least, we have good reason to believe he may know where she is. As to where to start, we're going to the Western Palace. We think she's with Prince Inuyasha, and headed in that direction." 

Some of the stiffness left Sango's body as she assimilated his reply. Finally she nodded. "At least we have a place to start. Tell me the details." 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

Sango and Shippo both awoke in the early dark hours of the next morning. Shippo had ordered the kitchen staff to prepare food for their journey, so they had little left to pack. In the early pre-dawn light they loaded Kirara, Sango's demon cat companion, and then walked to the castle gate. Queen Higurashi and the Priestess Kaede were there to see them off. The Queen took both their hands in turn, and pressed them warmly. "Please find and protect my daughter," she whispered to them. 

Sango and Shippo mounted Kirara, who took to the sky with puffs of flame around her feet. Kaede orchestrated the lowering of the barrier for them, so that the demons could pass unharmed, and they were on their way. 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

The bushes behind Kagome rustled slightly, giving away the presence of a being hiding among the leaves. Kagome sighed and rolled her eyes. "Not again!" she thought to herself. Slowly she turned her head, peeking at the bushes out of the corner of her eye. Sure enough, tell-tale red was peaking through the green branches. 

"Inuyasha, you promised!" she scolded the bush. 

The bush rattled slightly in response. 

Kagome resisted rolling her eyes again. "I know you're there, Inuyasha. It hasn't been five minutes yet. You promised me a full five minutes this time. Now go away." 

Inuyasha stood up from his bush and crossed his arms. His entire body was tensed as if for a fight. "It has so been five minutes!" 

"No, Inuyasha," said Kagome with false patience. "It's only been a minute and a half." 

Inuyasha got the stubborn look on his face that let Kagome know that this attempt at five minutes alone was over. She wasn't quite ready to give it up, yet, though. "Miroku knows what five minutes is. Why don't you ask him to help you keep track?" 

"I don't need Miroku to tell me what five minutes is." Inuyasha scowled at her. "Five minutes is too long, plain and simple." He took hold of Kagome's arm, intent on dragging her back to camp. 

"Too long!" Kagome fumed to herself in a low voice as she dug in her heels. "Five minutes is too long? It's not nearly long enough!" Suddenly Inuyasha's words inspired Kagome to a new form of attack. "Unless," she spoke louder, looking up at Inuyasha to make sure she had his attention, "unless, you mean you're so infatuated with me that you just can't stand the thought of being away from me that long." 

Inuyasha grunted and pulled away from her. His cheeks were rapidly turning bright red. 

Kagome followed him. She put a hand on each of his arms, and nuzzled her face into his chest. She hoped he didn't notice her own cheeks heating from embarrassment. A detached part of her brain was wondering why in the world she was doing this. She must be more desperate for time alone than she thought. 

"Ahhhh…" Inuyasha voice sounded truly scared. 

Kagome looked up at him through her eye lashes, and made her voice sound breathless. "Do you really love me that much, Inuyasha?" 

He grunted, face still flaming red. Instead of answering her, he grabbed her arm again and dragged her behind him as he moved towards camp. Kagome stared at his hunched shoulders. "Wha….?" She thought to herself. "What was that?" 

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

Will Sango and Shippo make it to the Western Palace alright? Will they be allowed in? Will the Princess be there? And what in the world is Inuyasha thinking? 

Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until future chapters to find out! (evil laugh) 

In the meantime, please review! 

-Silvanon 


	16. Stray Moments

Sorry for the long delay in getting this chapter up! I don't have any specific excuses, it was just generally a busy few weeks. Anyways, thank you tons & tons to everyone who reviewed last chapter! I was very happy to hear from all of you! J 

Disclaimer: I don't own them. 

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

**Chapter 16: Stray Moments**

o 

o 

o 

"What was that?" The words kept chasing themselves around Kagome's mind throughout the rest of the day. When she'd insinuated to Inuyasha that he might love her, she hadn't considered it as a serious possibility. She already knew that he liked her, or at least thought she was useful somehow, or else he wouldn't have tolerated her after she got hurt and slowed them down. She didn't ever consider that his feelings might go beyond that. "Why didn't he deny it?" she asked herself for the thousandth time. 

Kagome noticed that she'd stopped stirring the pot, and hurriedly began moving her ladle again. "Silly thoughts are no reason to burn dinner," she scolded herself. "But are they really that silly? If he's really in love with me…." The ladle slowed again. "If he's really in love with me, what then? I'm not sure I like this." Kagome tried to imagine herself as a couple with Inuyasha. "He's loud, rude, abrasive, rough, not sensitive at all to my feelings." She scowled. 

"On the other hand, it is sort of sweet how he protects me." Kagome glanced at Inuyasha, who was sitting on a nearby log and pretending not to notice her. "He's not all that bad to look at. And he has those cute, fuzzy ears!" The ears in question twitched, one of them flicking to point in her direction. Kagome's hands twitched. She'd wanted to touch those ears from the first moment she'd seen them. She tried not to think about it, but now that she was concentrating on them, the urge was definitely growing stronger. Her grip on the ladle tightened as she tried to subdue the desire. Unconsciously her body leaned towards Inuyasha, her eyes still fixed on his ears. If they twitched just one more time… 

Inuyasha turned to face Kagome. "Quit staring at me already!" he barked at her. 

Kagome immediately drew back, blushing furiously. "Sorry," she whispered. Hurriedly she returned her focus to the soup. Inuyasha grunted and turned away again. 

Miroku chose that moment to speak up. "Inuyasha, you really ought to be nicer to Lady Kagome. After all, she is working to prepare a delicious meal for us. You ought to be grateful to her." The monk chuckled inside himself when his words caused both his friend's cheeks to redden. This was definitely getting interesting. He was going to have to think of more ways to jab at Inuyasha. 

Inuyasha could feel Miroku plotting. He had that evil "Miroku-is-plotting" air about him. He hunched his shoulders and turned away from the group a little more. "Now Kagome thinks I love her, and Miroku is plotting to use it against me," he told himself. "This trip just keeps getting worse and worse." 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

Kagome concentrated on where she put her feet. They had been traveling several hours already this morning, and she'd reached the point where her muscles were tired, but the lunch break was still a ways away. She knew from experience that this is when she was most likely to trip and fall, or do something equally awkward and ungraceful. She really didn't want to do anything like that. Especially not today, when Inuyasha was glancing over at her far more often than usual. 

"What's his problem?" she grumbled to herself. That was lying to herself, though. She didn't really want to know. In fact, she was trying hard not to think what his problem might be, actually. 

Her pesky brain won out, though. "Maybe he keeps looking at you because he likes you," it said. "Maybe he even loves you." Kagome shook her head as if to dislodge the thought, but it continued in the now familiar path. "If not, then why didn't he deny it. You know he's not the type to let something like that slide if it's not true." Ah, this was just frustrating! And stupid! Stupid Inuyasha, not denying it and putting her in this stupid situation! She scowled at him. 

It felt to Inuyasha like someone was staring at his back. He glanced around, and was not surprised to see Kagome trying to bore holes in him with her look. "Eh?" he thought to himself. "What'd I do now?" As he continued looking at her, she humphed and turned her head away, nose in the air. Inuyasha started to turn back, but then noticed that her next step was blocked by a raised tree root. He saw, almost in slow motion, how her foot was not raising far enough to go over the root. Ah! Her head was turned, and she didn't see it! Her foot caught on the root. Kagome, overbalanced by her forward movement, began to fall. Inuyasha leapt forward to catch her. Her body fell against his outstretched arms, her hair coming down to swish below her lowered head. Inuyasha felt the rapid thunderous beat of Kagome's heart against his skin. He stared down at her, not quite understanding how she had come to be there. 

Kagome lifted her head, her hair slipping around to its usual place behind her ears. She raised her eyes to meet his. They were wide with surprise and wonder. "I've never noticed what pretty eyes she has," Inuyasha thought to himself hazily. 

Off to one side, Miroku coughed politely, and time sped up to its usual pace. Kagome and Inuyasha both looked at him. "If you two lovebirds are done staring at each other," he said with a smirk. 

A small jolt went through Kagome, and she tried to squirm out of Inuyasha's grasp. Inuyasha snarled briefly at Miroku before setting her upright and moving away. "Let's go," he said shortly, and resumed walking. Kagome stared after him a moment before following. 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

"Inuyasha! I sense a jewel shard! It's headed our way!" 

Inuyasha turned to look back at Kagome. His eyes gleamed orangish in the light of the sunset. "A jewel shard?" 

"Yes. It's coming from that direction." Kagome pointed to her left. 

"Right," said Inuyasha. He moved in front of her and took up a defensive stance. 

"Uh…" Kagome wanted to ask him what he was doing, but the demon with the shard chose that moment to make his appearance. It was a grotesque thing, with an oversized head, a long body, and hairy legs poking out everywhere. It paused to take in their group. 

"Is this it?" Inuyasha asked her, while not taking his eyes off the creature. 

"Yeah. Uh…the jewel shard is between its eyes," Kagome replied. The creature turned towards the sound of her voice, and charged towards them. 

"Got it!" Inuyasha responded as he raised his sword to meet the demon's first attack. The beast twisted away from him, then resumed its attack towards Kagome. "Oh no you don't!" Inuyasha yelled as he sliced through the creature from behind. "You're not going to hurt Kagome while I'm around." He rested the Tetsusaiga back on his shoulder with a self satisfied smile. 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

It had been quite awhile since the party had settled down to sleep, but Kagome still lay awake. She stared up at the stars above her. She kept her breathing nice and slow, but somehow she couldn't force her eyes closed. He was watching her. He was propped up against a nearby tree with his sword resting against him, like always. His breathing was slow and even too, but every so often she'd catch a glint of his eyes shinning out from underneath his bangs. 

With sudden resolve, Kagome squeezed her eyes shut. 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

Kagome knelt down carefully by the riverbank. She tucked her hair behind her ears and then leaned forward over the water, reaching towards the green leaves sprouting from the water. Ah! She got them. She followed them down, and felt around their base. Yes, these were a good size. Happily she tugged the tuber out of its watery garden and set it beside her. Now if there were only more of them within reach. Kagome sighed. She really didn't want to get all wet going after tubers. 

"What are you sighing about?" came the familiar grumpy voice of Inuyasha. 

Kagome tipped her head back to stare up at him as he loomed over her head. "Oh, I was just thinking it'd be nicer if the other tubers were closer to the bank," she told him. 

Inuyasha bent down and started rolling up his pant legs. "Afraid of a little water?" he goaded her. He finished with his pants, quickly tied up his sleeves, and stepped out into the water. He walked over to where a few leaves poked out of the river. "Is this what you want?" 

Kagome smiled and nodded at him. "Yes, those are them." 

Inuyasha bent down and tugged the tubers out. He spotted a few more a little further downstream, and went to collect those too. Soon he had a bouquet of tubers in one hand. 

"That will be plenty Inuyasha!" Kagome called to him. Inuyasha nodded and trumped out of the steam. He held up his fistful of tubers for her to examine. She looked them over and saw that there were indeed plenty for their meal. "Thank you," she told him. 

"Didn't want you getting all wet and then getting sick," he mumbled. 

She glanced at his face and noticed that somehow he'd managed to get some mud on his cheek. Smiling and shaking her head, she dipped the hem of her sleeve in the river, then turned back to him. "Hold still for a moment," she said, and dabbed the mud away. "There! No more mud." 

Inuyasha blinked at her, surprised. "Thanks," he finally said. 

For some reason, that made Kagome blush. "Um, yeah. Let's get back to camp!" she started walking, leaving Inuyasha to carry the tubers. "If we don't hurry back, Miroku will start teasing us again!" 

Inuyasha hurried to catch up to Kagome. Once he was at her side, he slowed his pace to match hers. She turned to him and smiled. "Thanks again for your help, Inuyasha." She put a hand on his arm. He let it stay there. 

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

A few people have asked if this is a Inuyasha/Kikyo fic. The answer is, no, not in the sense you mean it. In the sense you mean it, it's an Inuyasha/Kagome fic. Oh! and Sourmilk, thank you very much for the mongoose. It's definitely my very first mongoose. ;) 

Please review! Thanks all! 

Silvanon 


	17. Hard Truth

Disclaimer: Kagome, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Sesshoumaru and anyone else you can think of from the Inuyasha universe belong to me. In my dreams. Dreams do come true, don't they? 

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

**Chapter 17: Hard Truth**

Miroku watched his two companions' behavior with growing concern. It was all well and good when it was just fun and games, and that was all he had imagined it would be. In all the time Miroku had known Inuyasha, he'd never seen the Prince have any serious interest in any girl. Sure, he'd blush at a pretty face and maybe stammer a bit. This seemed different, though. Inuyasha was changing, and Kagome was the cause of it. Normally he'd be thrilled for his friend, but Inuyasha was not at liberty to choose his bride. The match could never be. He'd have to do something soon, or the relationship would quickly become a source of serious pain to all them. 

He'd have to get Inuyasha alone and have a serious talk with him, remind him of his duties. Now there was a problem. Inuyasha had not left Kagome's side for more than a few seconds ever since the cave, days ago. Kagome had gone from frustrated to screaming mad to accepting and even welcoming of Inuyasha's presence. He knew at this point he wouldn't get any intentional help from her. They would have to be somewhere that Inuyasha considered safe before he'd leave Kagome long enough for Miroku to talk with him. As long as they were in the forest, Miroku knew Inuyasha wouldn't consider it safe enough. He'd have to convince them to enter a town. Kagome was no longer deliberately trying to provoke Inuyasha, and was not likely now to reveal Inuyasha's identity, so he just might have a chance at convincing them it was a good idea. Besides, Miroku had one line of attack he knew would get Inuyasha to cave. 

"Inuyasha, what do you say to stopping at the next town?" 

"Huh, what for?" Inuyasha asked. 

"We've been traveling for awhile now. Our supplies are running low." 

"I have a few things I'd like to get," Kagome chimed in. 

"I don't know," said Inuyasha. 

Miroku decided to use his secret weapon. "We're running low on noodles." 

"The noodles are running low?" Inuyasha sounded concerned. "Well, I guess we can stop in the next town." 

"Thank you." Miroku bowed to him. 

Kagome just smiled up at him happily. Inuyasha offered her a small smile in return. 

"We should make it to the next town by nightfall," Miroku told them. 

"Ah!" exclaimed Kagome. "I'll get to sleep in a real bed!" She quickened her pace in anticipation. "This is going to be a good day!" 

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

"It's getting dark," Shippo observed. "Do you think we should stop for the night?" 

Sango sighed. "This trip is taking too long. We need to find her as quickly as possible." 

"Shall we continue on, then?" 

"No," Sango regretfully decided. "Kirara needs a break. We'll stop at the next town we come to." 

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

Kagome was in ecstasy. The town they stopped at had a communal bath built around a natural hot spring, and Inuyasha had agreed that she could go. "Bath, bath, bath," she chanted to herself happily as she gathered together what she'd need. The men watched with amusement as she rushed around the room. 

"Okay!" she pronounced herself ready. She gave one last stern glance at Miroku, who put on his best innocent look, then turned to Inuyasha. "I'm counting on you to keep him here." 

"Don't worry," Inuyasha scowled at Miroku. "He's not going to step foot out of this room until you're back. 

Kagome smiled at him happily and then bounced out the door. "Bath, bath, bath," she could be heard chanting down the hall. She got about half way there when she realized she'd forgotten to grab her soap. "Can't have a bath without soap!" she told herself. She turned around and hurried back to the home they were staying in. She was about to enter the room, but paused when she heard the serious tone of voices inside. 

"You know your family would never accept it," said Miroku's voice. 

"It's that stupid Sesshoumaru," growled Inuyasha. 

"Sesshoumaru?" Kagome wondered to herself. "Oh, right, Inuyasha's older brother. Huh, sounds like they don't get along." 

Inside the room, Inuyasha's voice continued, "He's just thrilled with the idea of me with a human. He's the one that convinced father that it can't be changed." 

"What can't be changed?" Kagome questioned. 

"Regardless of their reasons, your family would never accept a change. Certainly not in favor of one with her standing. Like it or not, you are betrothed to Princess Kikyo." 

"Yeah, yeah. So what's your point with all of this anyway?" Inuyasha grumbled. 

"My point is that you can never be anything more than just friends with Kagome," Miroku admonished. 

The words hit Kagome with terrible force. She realized suddenly that she had come to think that she and Inuyasha were more than just friends. Realized that her heart would never let her be just friends with him. "When did I fall in love with him?" she asked herself, as tears started trekking down her cheeks. She slumped against the wall and huddled in on herself. "How could I have been so stupid?" 

Inside, Inuyasha retaliated to the monk's words. "What in the world makes you think I want to be more than just friends with Kagome? What makes you think I even want to be friends with her? She's just a stupid commoner. Not even that pretty. Keh." 

Kagome knew Inuyasha couldn't mean even half of what he just said, but it still hurt to hear him say it. She knew it's how he ought to feel about her, whether he did or not. Quietly as she could, she straightened and shuffled away. She kept her head bowed as she made her way to the bathhouse, so the passing villagers wouldn't see her crying. 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

Sango couldn't help the small feeling of contentment as she slipped into the bubbling water. Tough as she was, traveling was still hard on her. The hot water felt good on her aching muscles. "Just a few minutes," she told herself. 

It was late enough that the bathhouse was nearly empty. There was only one other person there, a girl who looked a little younger than Sango. She had her back turned towards Sango, so her face was obscured, but she had nice long black hair that flowed in a way Sango admired. After a few minutes, Sango realized that over the sounds of the bubbling water, she could hear the other girl sniffling. 

She knew it was probably none of her business, but curiosity goaded her on. She approached the girl, and carefully cleared her throat. "Um, I couldn't help but notice, is something wrong?" she ventured. 

The girl turned to her, raising red-rimmed brown eyes up to meet Sango's gaze. "Oh, I'm sorry," the girl said in a tear-choked voice. "I didn't mean to disturb you." 

"Not at all," said Sango as she settled herself down next to the young woman. "Would you like to talk about it?" 

"Um," the girl paused to sniffle again. "Yeah, I guess so. Thanks." 

"Tell me what's got you so upset," Sango prodded. 

"I've been such a fool. I've totally fallen for a guy who's already with someone else. I should have realized, I should have been more careful. It's just that, she's not around, and he's been so nice to me the past few days, I really thought he felt something for me. I guess I just sort of forgot that he's not available," the girl paused a moment to wipe a few tears off her face. "It was so stupid of me. I _knew_ he was already betrothed." 

Sango felt herself sympathizing with the young woman. She had declared herself done with men years ago. She put an arm around her companion's shoulders. "He shouldn't have led you on like that. He should have in mind more than you that he's already betrothed." Sango felt herself getting angry as she talked. "Men are nothing but trouble!" 

"No kidding," agreed the girl. 

"Listen, you shouldn't let yourself feel bad about this. That guy is much more at fault than you are," Sango continued. 

The girl looked like she didn't wholly agree, but she still nodded. 

"Now, for tonight, you should just put it out of your mind, and enjoy your bath." Sango concluded. "Just relax. I'll even wash your hair for you, if you like." 

The girl smiled. "You're being awfully nice to a stranger," she commented. 

"When it comes to men, we women have to stick together," Sango said firmly. 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

Sango and her newly made friend exited the bathhouse arm in arm. "You've really helped me out tonight. Thank you!" the girl told her. 

Sango smiled at her and nodded. "Now remember, be brave, hold your head high, and don't let him make you feel less than you are," she admonished. 

As they left the doorway, Sango immediately noticed the man hurrying towards them. Her friend noticed him too, and jumped at the sight of him. "I thought you'd be back at the house!" she exclaimed. 

"Is that him?" Sango asked menacingly. The man saw her look and took a step back, holding up his hands in front of him. 

"Oh, no, this is just a companion of mine," the girl clarified. "He's alright. Sort of." 

Sango relaxed, and looked at the man more closely. Something about him seemed familiar, but she couldn't place where she might know him from. He smiled at her and moved forward. Looking at his friendly face, Sango realized that he was really quite handsome. Maybe that's why she let him take both her hands in his. 

"Never have I laid eyes on such beauty," the man said, looking deeply into her eyes. Sango felt the faint tinglings of a blush starting. "Would you do me the honor of bearing my child?" 

The tinglings vanished. "WHACK!" Sango slapped him with all the force she could muster. The man fell backwards, knocked unconscious. "You really should get better taste in men," Sango told her friend. "Best of luck!" With that, she stalked away, still angry. 

"Oh Miroku, you certainly know how to make a bad impression," Kagome sighed. 

o 

o

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know:) 

Silvanon 


	18. So Close

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Inuyasha. I just play with them. Mwahahahaha. 

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

**Chapter 18: So Close**

"What's the matter, Sango?" Shippo tried to keep the whine out of his voice. He was certainly old enough not to whine anymore. That didn't make dealing with Sango's anger any easier, though. He wished sullenly that he were still a kit, so he could indulge just a little. He settled with fidgeting a little, trying to find a more comfortable seat on Kirara's back. 

"I told you last night, nothing's wrong," Sango snapped. 

"Yeah, and I didn't believe you last night, either," replied Shippo. "Come on, Sango, something has obviously got you upset." 

"Hump," replied Sango. Shippo waited a moment, and finally she added, "I ran into a reminder of why I swore off men." 

"Ah," Shippo nodded wisely. "I see." To himself, he reiterated his oft-thought sentiment that it was really too bad Captain Sango chose to distance herself so much from the opposite gender. There was more that one man at the castle who would jump at the opportunity to be with her, if she'd only give them a chance. She seem to carry some sort of grudge against men in general, however, so it was unlikely she would ever come to know of her many admirers. Shippo was one of the few males exempt from her cold shoulder, mostly because Sango had seen him grow up, and in her eyes he was still a child. 

"The worst part," Sango interrupted Shippo's musings, "is that I think I know the guy. I just can't think where from! You'd think I'd remember someone as perverted as that." 

Shippo raised his eyebrows in surprise. Someone who had met Sango before, and still thought they could make a move on her? That was unusual! He wished he'd been there to see what such a valiant man looked like. He stifled a chuckle, knowing it would get him in trouble if Sango heard it. They traveled several more minutes in silence. Suddenly, a shock made it's way down Sango's spine. She sat up straighter and immediately turned Kirara around. "Sango, what's the matter? Why are you turning around?" Shippo asked in concern. 

"I remembered where I know that guy from!" she responded. "He's that stupid so-called monk! I met him a few years ago when he came to court." 

"I'm glad you were able to remember, but shouldn't our mission come first?" Shippo replied. 

"This is our mission!" Sango told him. "That man's name is Miroku, and he's Prince Inuyasha's traveling companion!" 

"So Inuyasha and the princess might be back in that town!" Shippo caught Sango's rising excitement. 

"Yes! In fact, that girl I met at the bathhouse was with Miroku. That might well have been her!" 

"You've already met her? What did she look like? Did she look well? Did she look nice? Do you think she'll like me!" Shippo bounced in childlike impatience as he asked his questions. 

Sango laughed, a happy sound, and tried to sort through the fox's questions. "She looked….she looked a lot like the Queen, really. Only younger, of course. She was very nice, I'm sure she'll like you just fine Shippo. And she seemed healthy, if a bit sad." 

Sango paused here a moment, remembering her conversation with the girl. She wondered who it was her new friend had fallen for, and wished now that she had asked. It could have been Prince Inuyasha she was talking about, but she'd mentioned the man being nice to her, and Sango had serious doubts about Inuyasha's possession of that quality in any amount. "She doesn't know who she is, and I think she might not be happy to find out. I think she may have fallen in love with someone other than Prince Inuyasha." Sango's voice was serious again. 

"I suppose we'll have to go carefully when we tell her, then," replied Shippo, and he stopped bouncing. The town was coming into view again as he spoke. "I suppose we'd better confirm it's really her first. Kaede said she was going by the name of Kagome, right?" 

"Yes, that's right. Although, considering she was running away, she might be going by a different name now." 

"Did you get the name of the girl you spoke with yesterday?" he wanted to know. 

"I spoke with her for some time, but no, I didn't get her name." Kirara started to descend towards the town square. The pair were silent until she'd set down, and they'd both climbed off her. 

"Where do you suppose they're staying?" Sango asked, looking around the square. 

"Probably at the same inn we were staying at," Shippo replied with a wry tone. "It's the only one in this town." 

"Right," Sango nodded sharply and set out towards the inn, Shippo and Kirara following at her heels. 

The innkeeper was surprised to see them. "Ah, welcome back! I thought you two had left. Did you decide to stay a little longer after all?" 

Sango shook her head. "Actually, we just wanted to ask you a question." 

"Alright then." The innkeeper hooked his thumbs in his belt, waiting. 

"Did you have a group here last night that included a monk traveling with a teenaged girl?" 

"Hum," the innkeeper thought, "I believe I did." 

"And was there another man with them, one with white hair and yellow eyes?" 

"Why yes, there was!" the man replied. "Do you know them?" 

"I do, actually, although it's taken me a bit to remember where from," Sango replied, trying to hide her excitement. "Are they still here?" 

"I'm afraid you missed them," the innkeeper replied. "They left early this morning." 

Sango's heart sunk. "Oh, I see. Do you happen to know what direction they traveled in?" 

"I believe they were headed west." 

Sango thanked the man, and they left. "So close!" Shippo sighed. "Well, at least we know it was them, and it sounds like they really are headed towards the Western Palace." 

"Yes," Sango responded. "We'll travel a bit slower and keep an eye out for them on our way. It'll be better if we can catch them before they reach the Palace." 

"Right," Shippo agreed. 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

Packing up and setting out that morning had been incredibly awkward for Kagome. Inuyasha was acting sullen and reserved, and though he stayed as close to her as ever, he refused to meet her eyes and would only speak to her in one word sentences. For Kagome's part she understood his behavior, but couldn't help feeling humbled and hurt by it. She tried to maintain her normal cheerful demeanor, but found it increasingly difficult. With every snub Inuyasha gave her, she found her hurt growing, and her resentment of Miroku. "What's wrong with me. Am I really such an awful person that I'll hate Miroku now, just because he reminded us of what we already knew and should have remembered ourselves?" she reasoned with herself. Unfortunately, it didn't help her quell the stabs of anger she felt every time she saw the monk looking happy. 

After awhile, she noticed Miroku giving her puzzled looks. She wondered about it for a moment before realizing she hadn't mentioned Inuyasha's altered behavior yet. She'd give away that she had overheard them last night if she didn't act surprised. Gritting her teeth, she turned to Inuyasha and put on her best fake concerned face. "Inuyasha, what's wrong? You've hardly spoken to me this morning. Quit being so rude!" 

"Shut up, stupid peasant girl!" Inuyasha snarled at her. 

Kagome fell back, feeling real hurt at his reaction. She sniffed, trying to hold back the tears welling up behind her eyelids. When she wasn't able to keep them from falling, she bowed her head, turning her watery gaze on the unsympathetic ground. "Oh well," she thought miserably. "At least now I have an excuse to act sad." 

As they traveled, Kagome found herself wondering just what she was doing with the group. After all, she hadn't managed to offer them much help, and she knew she'd been a lot of trouble to them. It was a wonder they hadn't left her behind long before now. Maybe at the next town she ought to offer to part ways. It would be easier on her heart not to be near Inuyasha anymore. It would be easier on him too. 

After a day of nearly silent travel, they made camp. While Inuyasha set up tents for them, Miroku fetched water, and Kagome collected firewood. It felt strange to Kagome to go out into the woods without Inuyasha's constant presence. It served to reinforce that there had been a break made between them. After dinner Miroku showed Kagome the stream he'd found, and the two of them washed their dishes in the frigid water. 

"Kagome," Miroku stopped her from leaving when they were done. "You should know that we'll reach the Western Palace tomorrow." 

"Is that where we're headed?" Kagome asked quietly, inside a little surprised at herself for not having found out sooner. 

"Yes," Miroku confirmed. 

"Well, okay. Thanks for letting me know," Kagome said softly. "I guess...I guess that's a good thing." Tomorrow they would arrive at the Palace. Inuyasha's home. Prince Inuyasha. He'd be whisked away into his princely life, and she, a commoner, would stay behind like the peasant she was. 

Kagome stayed awake well into the night, trying to convince herself that it really was for the best. 

o 

o

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

Thank you very much everyone who reviewed last chapter! You are the reason I keep trying to write, even when life gets really busy and delays keep coming up. 

-Silvanon 


	19. The Western Palace

Disclaimer: Nope, they don't belong to me. 

o

o

o

* * *

o 

o

o

**Chapter 19: The Western Palace **

Sango, Shippo and Kirara arrived at the Western Palace after a day and a half of travel. Unlike the Eastern Palace, the West did not fortify themselves with spiritual barriers, so Kirara was able to set them down just outside the Palace gates. Sango and Shippo waited in tense silence atop Kirara until a small window set inside of the heavy gates opened. A slightly furry face, framed by a metal helmet, poked into view. The cat-pupiled eyes glared at Sango for a moment, but relaxed slightly when they settled on Shippo. When the guard spoke, he addressed the fox. "What business do you have at the Palace of the West?" he demanded.

"We are envoys sent by Queen Higurashi of the East to see Prince Inuyasha." Shippo replied.

The guard grunted and disappeared from the window. After a moment he reappeared. "What proof do you have that you are who you say?" he asked.

This time Sango responded. "I am Captain of the Royal Guard," she told the demon. She held out her right hand, displaying a heavy golden ring carrying the crest of the eastern royal family. A human wouldn't be able to see it at this distance, but she knew the demon would have no problem distinguishing the ring's mark. "This is my ring of office," she declared.

The guard stared at the ring for a moment, before his face suddenly disappeared, to be replaced by another. The new face was older and the eyes sharper, and he wore no helmet. He studied the ring for a moment, before bellowing in a rough voice. "Let them in!"

Sango let out a small sigh of relief, and dismounted. Shippo followed her, and Kirara morphed into her smaller size immediately. In her tinier form, she shook herself vigorously and then leapt up to ride on Sango's shoulder. The ground rumbled as the heavy gates were opened. The doors swung out until there was a space between then just large enough for them to pass through single file, and then stopped. Shippo and Sango glanced at each other, and then proceeded through the opening.

They came to a halt just inside the gates. Before them was a large courtyard of stone and garden, with small streams artfully flowing through. Various flowering trees accentuated the landscape. A large cobbled pathway led up to the main Palace entrance. They stood staring at it for a few moments, while the guards stood glaring at them. After a few moments, some sort of humanoid demon dressed in the West's colors approached from up the path. "Follow me, please," he instructed, and he led them up the path and into the Palace proper. Inside was as beautiful as the outside had been, decorated with dark wooden furniture, cut flowers in ornate vases, and various paintings and sculptures. Strangely, everything had a slightly dangerous feel to it, like a sharp knife concealed in a sheath of silk. It made Sango feel nervous.

They were taken down a short hallway, where the demon guide handed them over to another, identically dressed, demon. This guide led them down a series of hallways, and then handed them over to a third demon. They changed guides two more times, before finally being brought to a set of doors emblazoned with a red stylized flower pattern. Here they were told to wait, while their guide slipped inside. After a moment he returned, and beckoned them to enter.

Sango and Shippo entered together and immediately looked around. The room was decorated much the same way as the rest of the castle, but here the dangerous feel was heightened. It was a moment before Sango noticed the being standing quietly in one of the corners, staring up at a particularly abstract painting. She gave a start of surprise. Inuyasha never wore a fluffy boa like that. For some reason, they'd been brought to see Sesshoumaru.

Sango had been gearing up to deal with the dog demon's loud and brash younger brother. It threw her off balance a little to suddenly be confronting the icy older brother. While she was regrouping, Sesshoumaru turned from the painting to regard them. "Captain Sango, Councilor Shippo, welcome to the West," he greeted them smoothly. "I understand you've come to see my little brother, but I'm afraid he is away from home right now."

Sango and Shippo both heard the note of contempt that entered the dog-demon's voice when he mentioned Inuyasha. They'd heard that the two brothers did not get along well, but this was the first time they'd had the chance to gauge the truth of it. Shippo found it hard to believe-how could one hate one's own family? He wanted time to think on it, but Sango appeared a little overawed by the cold prince, and it looked like he'd have to do the talking. He bowed to Sesshoumaru. "We thank you for your welcome. If Prince Inuyasha is expected back soon, then we humbly ask that we be allowed to impose on your hospitality until he returns."

Sesshoumaru's mouth tightened a little, but he continued in an almost bored voice. "Inuyasha is already overdue. You may stay with us until he appears." Sango and Shippo both nodded their thanks, and Sesshoumaru gestured towards their guide. "Meru will take you to your rooms," he said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Inuyasha woke with a consuming feeling of guilt. It took him a moment to remember why he was feeling guilty. "Oh, yeah," he reminded himself. "I was a jerk to Kagome yesterday, and she was sad all day." Of course, the half-demon would never admit to anyone else that he realized he'd been a jerk, much less that he was sorry for it. Accordingly, he didn't speak a word to Kagome all morning. He also ignored Miroku, just for good measure.

Kagome seemed willing to let herself be ignored, but Miroku made a few unsuccessful attempts to engage him in conversation. After the third time of being silently snarled at for commenting on something, Miroku also gave up trying to talk to him, and struck up a conversation with Kagome instead. Kagome's voice lacked its usual bounce, and the melancholy sound ate away at Inuyasha's conscience. Irked, he moved on ahead of the group, pretending he didn't feel Kagome's sad eyes following him. He wanted to completely escape her, run ahead to the palace. On his own he could be there in minutes, he knew. The thought of Kagome held him back. Out here Kagome was in danger. If she was attacked, he needed to be there to protect her. So, he ranged around the others, sometimes ahead and sometimes behind, but always within hearing range. He didn't rejoin them until late afternoon, when the Western Palace came into view.

Kagome gasped when she caught sight of it, her cares momentarily forgotten. She'd always lived in a tiny village, this being her first time away from home, and she'd never seen anything as great and as grand as the building towering before her. "Wow, it's huge!" she exclaimed.

"Home, sweet home," Inuyasha commented, the first words he'd spoken that day.

Kagome's eyes jerked to his, and he saw them widen with surprise and something else. He found himself wondering at it-she seemed to be keeping some sort of secret, it seemed to him. But he didn't find out what it was. She immediately pulled her eyes away and looked down, her expression returning to melancholy.

Miroku noted the exchange and seemed to want to say something, but in the end he remained silent. The group continued on, and at last arrived at the large palace gates. There was a scurry of activity as they approached, culminating in the large doors swinging open so that they were full wide by the time the party passed through. Inside, the soldiers stationed at the gate bowed low to Inuyasha as he passed. They gave respectful nods to Miroku as he went by, but when Kagome passed through they looked uneasy, and some of them moved as if to block her path. The captain of the group gave a start when he saw her, and threw a startled question at Inuyasha. "M'lord, a priestess?"

Inuyasha glanced back at him with an unreadable expression. "She's with me," he told the guard. At his words, the group hurriedly moved to let Kagome pass, but they all looked uneasily after her. It unsettled Kagome enough that she didn't register the beautiful courtyard, or the fact that Inuyasha was moving away from them.

She drew a startled breath when Miroku put a hand on her arm. "Kagome, come with me," he told her. "I'll get you settled in."

Kagome looked around a little, and noticed that Inuyasha was gone. "Inuyasha?" she queried.

"He's gone to make his report to his father," Miroku answered her. "We won't see him again for awhile. Oh, and, while we're here, always make sure to refer to him as _Prince_ Inuyasha. The demons here won't take kindly to a human priestess disrespecting their rulers." Kagome knew Miroku's advice was kindly meant, but it threw her into a deeper depression. He led her by the arm into the palace, and she walked beside him numbly, barely noticing her surroundings. The room Miroku led her to was small by palace standards, but Kagome would have called it big enough to fit a house in. He had noticed her strange behavior, because as soon as they arrived, he led her to the bed. "I think maybe you'd better rest for awhile," he told her in a worried voice. "I'll be by later on to bring you dinner." Kagome nodded and laid down. In a mark of his concern, Miroku didn't attempt to take advantage of her, quietly tiptoeing out instead.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kagome woke groggily from an unquiet sleep. She blinked up into the darkness, confused for a moment where she was. She lay there feeling the soft bed underneath her, and sensing the vastness of the room around her, and finally remembered. Then she got up and fumbled around at the side of her bed until she located a small stand, with a candle and flint on top of it. She lit the candle and by its light saw that Miroku must have already been by with the promised dinner. He'd left it on a tray by her bed. She investigated and found that the food was still warm. It must not be as late as it felt.

Kagome found that she was very hungry. She ate most of the plentiful dinner, but stopped when she came to a small loaf of bread. Thoughtfully she wrapped it in a handkerchief and stowed it in a pocket. She did the same with a small flagon of fruit juice.

She'd spent most of the past couple days crying inside over this moment, but now that it was here, she found herself filled with a strange energy. "Best to do it quickly, before you see him again," she told herself. She found her traveling pack by the side of the bed, and settled it on her shoulders with a quick motion.

"There, all ready," she pronounced, and exited the room with a quick step.

She found that she had no idea how she had arrived at her room or where to go, so she spent a few minutes wandering halls until she was intercepted by a palace courier. The young demon looked at her quizzically, but didn't ask who she was. He did ask where she was going, and when she said the front courtyard, very politely offered to take her there.

Once at the courtyard, she made her way immediately to the front gate. She felt unsure of her reception, but the guards remembered her from before, and were only to happy to open the gate and let her out "for an evening walk." From there she meandered her way towards the forest, keeping her pace to a casual stroll while she was in sight of the palace. When she reached the edge of the trees, she turned and looked back at the large building. "Goodbye Miroku," she said quietly. "Inuyasha, goodbye." With that, she turned and strode purposefully into the trees.

o

o

o

* * *

o 

o

o

Thanks so much for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! Oh, and to all my reviewers, you guys are awesome:)

Silvanon


	20. Gone

Disclaimer: Nope, they don't belong to me. 

o 

o 

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

**Chapter 20: Gone**

Kagome walked with a heavy heart. To her surprise, however, she found that she was a little relieved to have the decision made and acted on, and that having done so, she was eager to press on. Her nap at the Palace had restored a great deal of her energy and she traveled most of the night, only stopping to make camp when she saw the skyline start to turn pink. 

She carefully chose a campsite nestled between trees and hummocks, where she was not likely to be seen by passers-by. She didn't particularly expect a search party to be sent out for her. Three days ago she would have expected one, but now she did not believe they would bother. There were more things in these woods than search parties, however, and she didn't particularly care to be noticed by any of them. 

When she laid herself down, though, sleep did not come immediately. Instead, she found that her mind wandered back to Kaede. It had been nearly three weeks since she'd left the only home she'd ever known. She thought now about the last time she'd seen the old priestess, and about the confrontation they'd had--the one that had resulted in her running away, and getting herself into this whole mess. It was true that it had hurt when Kaede suggested that she not train as a priestess anymore, and that they move away to the city. Thinking about it, Kagome realized now that she had reacted so strongly because Kaede had been voicing Kagome's own fears about herself. She'd proven Kaede right by reacting as she had, rather than accepting the criticism and working harder to be a good priestess. And running away with Inuyasha-why had she done that again? At the time she had felt that she was making a bold step into a future of her own choosing, one where she could make a difference. But what had she managed to accomplish in this new future of hers? She hadn't done any service for Inuyasha and Miroku that they couldn't do for themselves (and probably do it better than she). Instead, she'd had to be carried and coddled and protected by Inuyasha and Miroku. She'd slowed them down and caused them problems. She realized to her chagrin that she had been seduced by the romance of a grand adventure, running off with some unknown boy to hunt down shikon jewel shards, and that she'd jumped into it wholly unprepared. And now that it hadn't worked out, she was running away. In short, she'd thoroughly proved herself to be a spoilt child, rather than the mature adult she wanted to be. 

Well, she couldn't help what she had already done, but she could resolve herself to do better from here on out. She would return home and beg Kaede's forgiveness, and then she would listen to the old woman's wisdom and heed her counsel, no mater what the priestess said was best. 

Abruptly Kagome remembered the last words Kaede had spoken to her: "Kagome, I don't want you to ever touch a shard of the shikon jewel again." She hadn't thought about it since that night she ran away, but she still had no idea why Kaede had said that. She had seemed to mean something more than the general "don't poke your finger in the fire" type of warning. Rather, Kaede had sounded almost as if the shikon jewel shards held some sort of special danger just for her, Kagome. It just didn't make any sense. Why would the shikon hold any special danger for her? And it if did, why hadn't Kaede told her about it sooner? Was she just hoping that Kagome would never run into any? That wasn't implausible-after all, before Kagome had met Inuyasha, she'd never laid eyes on a shard, much less had a chance to handle one. Still, Kagome couldn't help but feel that she was missing a piece of the puzzle. It was probably something obvious, once she figured it out. 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

Inuyasha's interview with his father lasted until late into the evening. The first think his father had asked about was the Tetsusaiga, and it had taken Inuyasha a moment to remember that it had been the original reason for his journey. The truth was that he hadn't thought about it at all since…well, since the day he'd met Kagome. At least the Tetsusaiga was one thing he'd done right on this trip, he thought, trying to alleviate the depression he felt when he thought of Kagome. Proudly he recounted to his father the adventures he'd had while attempting to recover the family heirloom, describing in elaborate detail his battle with the thunder demon brothers who had stolen it, and how he'd managed to use the sword's sheath to defeat them and take both the sword and the shikon jewel shards they carried. He then went on to relate the first time he'd tried to use the Tetsusaiga (defending Kagome, the thought would intrude), and how it had not transformed at first, and how quickly he'd managed to dispatch the shikon-enhanced centipede once it had. 

"The Tetsusaiga transformed for you?" Inutaisho sounded surprised and pleased. He held out a hand to take the sword, and Inuyasha quickly handed it to him. 

"Yeah," Inuyasha said, watching his father inspect the blade and wondering at his father's reaction. 

"I did not think you would learn to use it so quickly," Inutaisho said softly, talking to himself more than to his son. Then he raised his eyes to meet Inuyasha's gaze. "I have always intended that the Tetsusaiga should be yours, though I had not thought to give it to you so soon. I think, however, that you've proven yourself. Use it wisely, son." Inutaisho handed the sword back to Inuyasha, who took it with a renewed feeling of reverence. 

"Thank you, father," Inuyasha humbly replied. 

Inutaisho smiled at Inuyasha for a moment longer, then went on briskly. "I assume you retrieved the shard the centipede carried?" 

"Yeah, of course," Inuyasha said. 

"Good. We'll need to get all your new shards purified right away," Inutaisho said. Inuyasha opened his mouth to explain, but his father continued, "I know you've got that monk with you, but honestly, he's just not pure enough himself to do a full job on the jewel shards." 

Inuyasha shook his head, "Yeah, I know, I know. I actually had someone else to do it this time, though." 

"Someone else?" Inutaisho queried. "Purification is not an easy skill. Who did you find to do it?" 

"That girl I saved from the centipede demon," Inuyasha explained. "She's a priestess in training and she's amazing when it comes to purification. All she has to do is pick up a shard and it's purified, just like that. I knew I could use that skill, so I convinced her to come with me." 

Inutaisho raised an eyebrow. "A priestess agreed to accompany you?" 

"Priestess in training," Inuyasha corrected, "and yeah, she agreed to come. She's here now, but she seemed a bit tired when we arrived, so Miroku is settling her into her room." At this, Inuyasha fell silent, and Inutaisho, watching him and feeling the quality of his silence, gathered something of what had happened between his son and the young priestess. 

"Hum, I should like to meet the young lady after she is rested," Inutaisho decided. "Bring her to meet me at lunch tomorrow." 

Inuyasha nodded. 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

The morning after their arrival at the Western Palace, Sango and Shippo were informed by Meru, the same demon who had guided them the night before, that Prince Inuyasha had returned and was now ready to see them. The two of them held a hurried conference. Obviously the Western royalty did not realize they had the princess in their midst, or they would have been taken to see her immediately. "Should we tell them?" Sango wondered. 

"No," replied Shippo. "The fewer people who know, the better." 

Meru was watching them impatiently, so they said no more about it. The guide led them back to the same wing of the palace where they had met Sesshoumaru the previous day. As they neared the older prince's doors, they could hear a great deal of shouting, interspersed with the occasional cold comment from Sesshoumaru himself. Right as they were passing by, the innate doors were suddenly flung open, and Inuyasha stormed out. "Stupid idiot," Inuyasha was muttering under his breath. Through the doors, Sango and Shippo could see Sesshoumaru smirking at his brother. 

Inuyasha had his eyes on the floor as he marched away, and he nearly collided with Sango before noticing her at the last moment. "Who are you?" he snarled into her face. 

"Sango, Captain of the Eastern Palace Guard," she replied curtly, holding her signet ring up for good measure. 

Inuyasha looked like he wanted to snarl a good deal more, but all he said was "That's right, I remember you." He brushed past Sango. "This way." 

Sango and Shippo exchanged concerned glances before hurrying after the prince. Meru seemed to have disappeared. Wryly Sango thought that she'd like to disappear, too. Inuyasha did _not_ seem to be in a good mood this morning. 

Inuyasha led them through a set of red doors outlined in white and into a small but comfortable room, decorated chiefly in red, with the occasional white accent. He waited until both were inside before shutting the doors. "So, what are you wanting?" he demanded. "Something to do with Princess Kikyo, I imagine?" 

"Well, sort of," Sango said, and carefully continued, "but before we get into that I wanted to ask you some questions about the companions you've been traveling with, specifically the girl." 

"The girl?" Inuyasha's head snapped up and he eyed the pair warily. "What concern is she to you?" 

Sango faltered, but Shippo smoothly cut it. "As you know, Princess Kikyo's sixteenth birthday is coming up, bringing with it the time of the curse's completion." 

Inuyasha nodded impatiently; he already knew this. 

"We are gathering together as many priestesses as we can in preparation for the event," Shippo continued, "in the hope that they may offer our princess some protection. We had heard that the girl traveling with you is a priestess, so we came here to seek her out." 

Sango looked at Shippo in new appreciation. His lie was spur of the moment, but entirely plausible. In fact, it was something they really ought to be doing. 

Inuyasha folded his arms and stared at his guests. What they said made sense, but he still wasn't happy about their interest in Kagome. Why her? A small voice at the back of his head told him that if Kagome heard why these people wanted her, she'd surely go with them-away from him. He knew he didn't deserve to have her with him, but, he wasn't ready to let her go. He scowled. "She's just an apprentice, she's not good for anything but purifying shikon jewel shards. I don't see what you need her for." 

"Purifying?" said Shippo. 

"Shikon jewel shards?" said Sango. 

"Yeah," replied Inuyasha, scowling deeper. "That's why I brought her with me. She holds the jewel shards and keeps them from becoming tainted." 

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" panicked Shippo. 

"We've got to see her right away!" exclaimed Sango. "Where is she?" 

Inuyasha stared at them blankly. 

At that moment the door opened with a bang, and Miroku dashed in. "Inuaysha! Kagome left the palace grounds last night and never returned. She's gone!" 

o 

o

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

Thanks everyone for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! 

-Silvanon 


	21. Agreement

Disclaimer: Nope, they don't belong to me.

o

o

o

* * *

o

o

o

**Chapter 21: Agreement**

"Inuaysha! Kagome left the palace grounds last night and never returned. She's gone!"

The words echoed around the room. Inuyasha stared at Miroku, not comprehending yet. Then it hit home. "WHAAAAAAAT?"

Miroku blanched away from the rage in Inuyasha's face. "I...think I'll go look for her now," he said, and hurriedly turned towards the door. Inuyasha beat him to it and blocked his path. He grabbed Miroku's arm, tightly enough that the monk could feel the half demon's claws puncturing tiny holes in his skin. He could feel Inuyasha trembling.

"Where was she last seen?" Inuyasha demanded.

Relieved that he wasn't going to be blamed, Miroku quickly responded. "The guards say she headed into the forest. That's all we know."

"We've got to find her quickly! She's a walking monster magnet, there's no way she'll survive out there!" Inuyasha growled out.

To both Inuyasha and Miroku's surprise, Sango and Shippo ran past them and out the door, headed towards the palace entrance. Inuyasha blinked. "I guess they really were serious about needing Kagome," he said with wonder. Then, "Aah, what am I standing around here for. Come on, Miroku!" The pair ran towards the entrance, following Sango and Shippo. Inuyasha quickly overtook the others and was the first to reach the palace gates. The guards saw him coming at them and hurried to open the gate. They were too slow, and had only a crack open when Inuyasha arrived. Not pausing, he gathered himself and in one huge leap, cleared the palace wall. A body-width crack had appeared by the time the others arrived, and they hurriedly slipped through. No one paused to consult one another, but as they ran towards the forest they spread out, each choosing their own section to search.

"Kagome!"

"Kagome!"

"Kagome!"

"Stupid girl, where are you?"

Their cries rang out over the trees, growing fainter as each moved further into the forest.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was, she had to admit, a bit gratifying to know that someone at least had cared that she was gone. It almost made her wish she could tell them where she was. They wouldn't be content to just know, though, they'd likely want to take her back to the palace, and that wouldn't do. She wondered who ordered the search for her, and concluded that it must have been Miroku. If it had been Inuyasha, he would have just come after her himself, he wouldn't have bothered to ask anyone else to search. She didn't recognize the voice she could hear calling her name, so it was likely a palace guard sent by Miroku. She decided she would have to try to think more kindly of the lecherous monk from now on. Even if he was lecherous.

She'd woken late that morning and had started traveling again. She'd been sleeping outside long enough now that the discomfort hadn't interrupted her sleep, but still she'd had a restless sleep. She felt much more vulnerable without the others, and had woken at every snapped twig and rustled grass, even when those snaps and rustles were caused by herself. Trying to sleep while the sun was out hadn't helped either. Finally she had given up trying to sleep and had continued walking. Her head hurt a little now from the lack of rest, and her eyes didn't want to stay open. She wasn't so well hidden that she could afford to start snoring, but still she caught herself nodding off more than once. As soon as the searcher moved on, she'd have to start moving again, if she wanted to stay awake. She needed the daylight to travel in. She hoped the searcher left quickly.

She jerked her eyes open, pulled awake by the strange sensation of being watched. She craned her neck to look behind her, and found herself staring into a large pair of watery pale pink eyes, surrounded by wrinkly green skin. The creature huffed and the blast was hard enough to whip Kagome's hair around. Then it opened its mouth to display two rows of delicately jagged teeth, and reached its mouth toward Kagome, who let out a startled involuntary scream, and scrambled backwards. She rolled and hurried to her feet, and started running away. Snaps, cracks and loud thuds told her the demon was pursuing. "Why does this keep happening?" she cried as she ran.

A brown and blue figured darted out from the trees and swept past her. "Fox fire!" it yelled. Kagome turned around to see the demon who had been chasing her was now engulfed in bright blue flames. Kagome put up an arm to protect herself--the heat of the flames was intense. Within seconds the demon was completely gone. The flames died down, leaving Kagome to face the new arrival. He was a fox demon, she could see now. He looked to be somewhere in his teenage years, but then again, with demons it was hard to tell. Thankfully his expression was not threatening. Probably he was the one who'd been calling her name earlier.

"Thank you," she told him cautiously. "I appreciate it." She fiddled with a sleeve for a moment, trying to think of a way to leave before he could ask her anything. Nothing came to her, so finally she just said, "Um, well, I'd better be going! Thanks again! Bye!" She hurried off, hoping he wouldn't follow her. It took him all of two seconds to catch up to her. It wasn't her day, she decided.

"You're Kagome, aren't you?" he stated.

Kagome pretended it was a question. "No, I'm afraid not. Who's she?"

The fox demon looked at her skeptically for a moment. "Are you sure you're not her? Because you definitely look like you would be her."

"What makes you say that?" Kagome said, adding a strained laugh onto the end.

"Because you're a young maiden dressed like a priestess, and this is area the maiden priestess Kagome ran away to."

"Um, wow, what a coincidence. Nope, I'm not her. I'll let you know if I see her!"

"That's too bad you're not her," said the fox demon, looking at her slyly out of the corner of his eye. "Because I really need to find her. You see, I come from the Eastern Kingdom. Our Princess is about to have her sixteenth birthday, when a terrible curse on her is supposed to be fulfilled. We're looking for priestesses of great power to protect the princess. One of our most respected priestesses, the Lady Kaede, told us about her wonderful apprentice Kagome, and I was sent to find her and ask her if she would help us. I know normally you wouldn't send a demon to ask a priestess for help, but the Queen and Lady Kaede thought you'd be here, and that a demon would have an easier time traveling in the West."

Kagome stopped walking. "You're not here to take me back to Inuyasha? Kaede sent you?"

The fox demon nodded and smiled at her. "That's right. So, what do you say?"

Kagome looked him in the eye for a long moment, then nodded. "Okay."

"All right!" replied the demon. "My name's Shippo, by the way. I'm just going to call Sango over, and we can be on our way." With that, Shippo sent a blast of fox fire into the air, propelling it high above the treetops. "There. She shouldn't take long getting here." The fox cheerfully sat down with his back against a tree. He motioned for Kagome to join him, which she did.

"You're already met Sango, by the way," Shippo commented to her. "You and she talked in the bathhouse in the last town. She didn't realize you were who we were looking for until the next day."

"Oh!" said Kagome, truly surprised. "That's Sango? She was really nice to me that night. Wow, that's really strange we bumped into each other like that and didn't know it."

"Yeah," Shippo agreed. "Who would have expected it? It's really too bad she didn't recognize you right away, but it looks like things have worked out anyways."

"So how did she figure out who I was?" Kagome asked, curious.

"Well, we knew you were traveling with Inuyasha. I don't know the details, but apparently the guy who came to pick you up from the bathhouse—the monk?--is someone she'd met before. Once she remembered who he was, and that he's Inuyasha's friend, she figured out who you must be."

"Oh, I see," said Kagome in a subdued voice. The mention of Inuyasha had stabbed at her heart. It was going to be a long time, she thought, before she could hear his name and not feel pained by it. It was a little ironic that she was going to go protect the woman who had come in between her and Inuyasha. Still, Shippo had said Kaede sent him, and Kagome had promised herself less than a day ago that she would do whatever Kaede said to. So, she would go protect the Princess. Shippo continued to chatter away, telling her about his journey, the things he'd seen, what foods he liked. Kagome made sure to nod in the appropriate places, but her mind wasn't really on the conversation. After a time, she found herself nodding off again.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sango arrived at the place where she'd seen the foxfire sent up, and had to smile at what she saw. Shippo immediately looked up at her, but didn't move—Kagome had her head on his shoulder, sound asleep. "Thank goodness you found her alright!" she sighed in relief, and Kirara, who was sitting on her shoulder, mewed in agreement. She motioned toward the nearby burned spot on the ground. "Have some trouble?"

Shippo nodded. "There was a demon after her when I found her. I used my foxfire on it."

"Good job."

Sango was about to say more, but was interrupted by the arrival, from separate directions, of Inuyasha and Miroku. Inuyasha looked a Kagome with concern, but it changed to a frown after he saw she was alright. He didn't like the way she was leaned up against the fox. "So you found the little runnaway, eh? Thanks. I'll take her back to the castle." He made a move as if to wake Kagome, but Shippo raised a hand to stop him.

"I already told Kagome why we're here, and she's agreed to help us. We need to start back to the Eastern Palace right away."

Inuyasha's expression darkened, but Miroku placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "It's for the best, Inuyasha. These two are quite capable of taking care of her. We should return to the palace now." Inuyasha appeared to struggle with himself, but finally gave a curt nod.

As they turned to go, Sango hurriedly called out, "One moment!" Both men stopped, but only Miroku turned back to look at her. She hurried to Kagome and searched the girl's pockets until she found what she was looking for. "Here, I think you should take them," she said, and handed Miroku the small vial containing the Shikon Jewel shards they'd collected. "It wouldn't be good to have them in the Eastern Palace."

"Ah, yes. Thank you." Miroku bowed, then turned again, striding off towards the Western Palace.

Inuyasha stared at Miroku's back for a moment. He refused to turn around and look again at Kagome. "Keh," he said, and then leaped into the treetops, passing Miroku, hurrying away.

Sango and Shippo watched them go, silent for a long time, until finally Shippo said, "I told her our story, not the truth. Do you think we should tell her?"

Sango shook her head, still watching the path Inuyasha had taken. "No, I think you made the right decision. We should go."

Kagome refused to be woken up, so finally the loaded her, still sleeping, onto Kirara.

o

o

o

* * *

o

o

o

Thanks everyone for reading!

-Silvanon


	22. Curse Fulfilled

Disclaimer: Nope, they don't belong to me.

o

o

o

* * *

o

o

o

**Chapter 22: Curse Fulfilled**

Inuyasha whirled, moving just in time to avoid being impaled on Sesshoumaru's sharp claws. He wasn't fast enough to avoid his brother's shoulder, though, and the impact sent him crashing into the nearby rough stone wall. With a muffled grunt he collapsed to the ground. He knew he couldn't stay there, though. He forced himself to his feet as quickly as he could manage, and staggered away in time to narrowly avoid Sesshoumaru's claws once again. Snarling, he launched himself at his brother, and managed to slash a thin line across Sesshoumaru's face before the demon leaped away. Calmly Sesshoumaru paused to wipe away a trickle of blood from the already healing cut. "Is that all you're capable of, halfbreed?" he sneered at Inuyasha. "Only you could manage to fight like a child still, after all the training Father has given you." Instead of responding verbally, Inuyasha chose to attack again. He wasn't quick enough, however, and Sesshoumaru easily avoided him. "But then," Sesshoumaru continued taunting him, "I can't expect your fighting skills to exceed your mental state, and your behavior this past month has been nothing short of childish." A gasp from the sidelines emphasized what a sore point Sesshoumaru had touched on. Not that there were that many spectators. Normally there would be quite a few gathered to see the two brothers spar, but Inuyasha's unusually hot temper lately had most of the palace avoiding him. The usually crowded practice room had virtually emptied the moment Inuyasha had stepped inside its tall doors. Even more spectators had hurried out when it became clear Inuyasha intended to pick a fight with Sesshoumaru. The two brothers were known for heated battles.

Inuyasha growled, deep and low. His eyes sparkled with anger. "You're going to regret that," he told Sesshoumaru in a rough voice.

"I doubt it," scoffed the brother.

Inuyasha charged forward, claws out. Sesshoumaru zipped to one side with a bored expression, confident he'd evaded his brother's attack. His expression slipped when he felt a tug at his shoulder. The room went dead silent. He looked back to see that Inuyasha was truly doing his worst-he'd gotten a hold of Sesshoumaru's shoulder fur, and was intently ripping clumps of hair out of it. He stared up at Sesshoumaru with a look of glee as he continued desecrating the beloved accessory.

Sesshoumaru's eyes instantly turned deep red. He snarled, displaying suddenly longer teeth, and in an eye blink he had grabbed Inuyasha by the throat and slammed him against the wall. He raised one hand, glowing green, ready to finish Inuyasha off. The half breed defiantly locked gazes with him. Only a conspicuous clearing of a throat from nearby stayed Sesshoumaru's claws. He continued staring at Inuyasha as his ragged breathing slowed and returned to normal. When his eyes had returned to their normal golden color, he leaned forward, getting in Inuyasha's face. "Your behavior this past month has been a disgrace to our family," he growled out. "If you miss that little human priestess of yours so much, you should go retrieve her and end this embarrassment."

With that, Sesshoumaru released Inuyasha, who dropped to the floor. He stalked away rapidly, not sparing a glance for their father, who's interruption had saved Inuyasha.

Inuyasha stared after him in shock for a moment, then began sputtering denials that lasted until Inutaisho offered him a hand to help him get up. Grudgingly he took the offered help. Once he was on his feet, his father moved towards the door. "Walk with me," he commanded Inuyasha. Knowing he dare not defy his father, Inuyasha followed him out the doors and into one of the palace gardens.

"Inuyasha, there's something I want you to understand," started out his father. Inuyasha cringed, expecting another lecture on duty, and how he shouldn't get involved with any relationship apart from the Princess Kikyo. "As your father, I've always hoped to see you happy." Inutaisho sighed and then continued. "I arranged for you to be betroved to Princess Kikyo because I felt it would be good not only for our relations with the East, but also for you personally. I do not believe Sesshoumaru will allow you an easy life in this kingdom once he inherits the throne from me, and I wished you to have a secure place in this world. But, you have shown me, and everyone else, this past month that you are not happy."

Inuyasha looked at his father in surprise; This didn't sound like what he was expecting.

"I'm not a tyrant you know, Inuyasha. If that priestess is necessary to your happiness, then I won't tell you not to be with her. Your engagement with the Princess can be broken. Go to the Eastern palace and find her, if that is your desire."

Inutaisho watched his son gape at him and smiled. "But, what about our alliance with the East?" Inuyasha finally sputtered.

"Don't worry, my son. Queen Higurashi loves her daughter as much as I love you, I'm sure she would not want her wedded to a husband who wishes for another. I don't want to add any more worries to her while her daughter is still in danger, but as soon as the Princess's birthday is safely past, I'll go speak with her. And if the Queen is offended, well, demons are long lived. I'll still find another opportunity for an alliance before I'm done."

Inuyasha continued to stare at his father in amazement. Finally Inutaisho gave him a gentle shove. "Go. Go find your priestess."

Once his feet had started moving, they kept going until Inuyasha finally broke into a run.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kagome stifled a yawn, and quickly glanced over at Kaede to see if she had noticed. She was relieved to see the old woman was looking directly ahead instead of at her. She didn't want Kaede to think she was bored. After all, it was an incredible honor to be chosen to guard the princess's quarters. She and Kaede weren't the only ones, of course. In fact, the corridor was quite crowded. Four other priestesses guarded with them here at the door, and several others were scattered throughout the palace. In addition to the priestesses, the palace was full of royal guards, many of the concentrated here as well. It was important that she and everyone else keep alert for any sign of danger. Today was the eve of the Princess's sixteenth birthday. The day that Naraku's curse was supposed to be fulfilled.

Normally Kagome would feel superfluous in a crowd like this, but after her adventures, she knew she could give something no one else could. The danger to the Princess would come from a Shikon jewel shard, and she could sense the shards. She'd made a private vow not to let any jewel shard anywhere near the Princess's room.

Kagome had not actually met the Princess during the month since she'd arrived at the palace. She'd been surprised when she'd woken that morning a month ago, to find herself in a comfortable bed inside the Eastern palace. Her reunion with Kaede had been awkward at first, but the two of them had soon restored their close bond. More awkward, for some reason, had been her meeting with Queen Higurashi. The woman had been kind and soft spoken, indeed she seemed to actually live up to all the good things Kagome had heard about her. But, the Queen looked at her so intently, and Kagome got the feeling there were things she wasn't saying. She couldn't identify what they might be, but they hung in the air between them and made Kagome fidget. She tried to put it down to the stress the poor Queen must be under, with her daughter facing such a fearsome curse, but still Kagome found herself avoiding the Queen when she could. The Princess she had no need to avoid in order not to meet her. The poor girl was kept under such strict lock and key that no one but the Queen, Kaede, Sango and Shippo were allowed to enter her room, and she herself never set foot outside the door. Kagome could understand the need for the precautions, but still she felt sorry for the Princess.

The truth was, she also felt more than a little sorry for herself as well. Sango, with whom she was now close friends, had recounted to her how Inuyasha had left her so quickly back in the clearing where she'd fallen asleep. It had hurt Kagome more than she liked to admit. Which made her all the more miserable when she caught herself missing him. Her mind had already made the decision to forget him, so why couldn't her heart do the same? For that matter, if her mind was so determined to forget, why did it keep bringing him up? It seemed Kagome couldn't make it through even an hour without him suddenly popping into her thoughts. She'd stopped mentioning it to Sango after the first little while. Sango would just spout something about how it would all work out, and she should try to be patient. Kagome couldn't see how it could possibly work out. After all, the guy she loved was betrothed to her Princess. Even without that, his status as Prince of the West put him way out of her league. How much more impossible of a relationship could there be?

Kaede had been keeping her quite busy, which Kagome had been glad of. In addition to regular priestess lessons, Kaede seemed to feel that if Kagome was going to live in the palace, she should learn diplomacy and leadership as well. She had meekly submitted to the lessons, keeping in mind her resolution to follow Kaede's advice. She hoped Kaede would not try to stop her leaving the palace once the Princess was out of danger. She wasn't sure she could stand watching Inuyasha and Kikyo together.

Kagome glanced over at Kaede again, and found the old woman looking at her in concern. Ah, her unhappy thoughts must have been showing on her face. Kagome quickly summoned up a smile (she was getting good a fake smiles lately) and gave Kaede what she hoped was a reassuring wave. Kaede didn't appear to be fooled, but finally looked away.

Some sort of commotion started on the far side of the corridor. A voice rose up over the crowd. "An army of demons! There's an army of demons approaching the palace! There's thousands of them!" After the announcement, everyone started talking. Kagome felt her stomach drop. She was here for this battle, true, but it suddenly seemed much more real than it had a moment ago. They were under attack. No one here moved, of course. They were already in their assigned position. The Princess must not be left unguarded.

A sudden tingling caught Kagome's attention. A jewel shard! And close, too! It was only a few corridors away, if Kagome sensed it right. Far too close to the Princess. Kagome immediately started towards it, wiggling her way through the soldiers. That jewel shard wasn't going to get any closer, not if she could help it! "Kagome, wait!" Kaede called out behind her. "You must stay here!"

Kagome looked over her shoulder at her mentor. "Come help me Kaede! There's a jewel shard over there, we need to get rid of it!" With that she hurried on.

Kaede tried to call Kagome back again, but everyone was still talking about the attack on the palace, and Kagome didn't hear her. Gasping in fear, she desperately tried to catch up with the girl.

Kagome reached the edge of the soldiers, and, finally out of the press, started running towards where she sensed the jewel. Two corridors over, Kagome came to a halt in front of a tapestry. Looking down, she saw the jewel shard, just simply lying there. Its dark glow indicated something more than just taint. This shard carried the curse, Kagome was sure of it. She knelt down and reached out to pick it up.

Kaede hobbled around the corner and seeing Kagome, cried out, "No! Don't!" Kagome looked up at her mentor, but her momentum carried her hand forward enough that one finger touched against the shard. The shard came to a sharp point just where Kagome's finger touched, and it dug into her finger as if with a will of its own. A shock ran up from the finger and spread through her whole body. Her heartbeat was suddenly loud in her ears. Kaede seemed to run towards her in slow motion. Her fingers curled around the shard, finishing the job of picking it up, and then her vision went black.

o 

o

o

* * *

o 

o 

o 

Oh, we're at the beginning of the end. What'll happen next? >:) Thanks everyone for reading! 

-Silvanon 


	23. Battle

Disclaimer: Nope, they don't belong to me.

o

o

o

* * *

o

o

o

**Chapter 23: Battle **

Ta-thump! Ta-thump! Kaede's heartbeat was strangely loud in her ears. Well, she was an old woman, and had just been forced to run rather more than her tired legs were used to. Still, the organ seemed to beat with special force as she watched Kagome...no, Princess Kikyo, crumple to the ground.

She hurried forward, falling to her knees as she reached the girl, and gathered her up in her arms. "Oh Princess, oh, Princess!" she sobbed as she searched Kagome's unresponsive face. She didn't bother trying stem the flow of tears now making their way down her cheeks, but instead closed her eyes and concentrated, gathering up all her spiritual power. She focused it sharply and sent it diving into the girl, desperately attempting to wake her. Her efforts told her that Kagome was not dead. Kaede's gift, given the Princess so many years ago, had held true. But she was unable to wake the girl. It seemed that truly only the prophesied kiss would rouse her.

Wearily Kaede opened her eyes. Sadly she stared down at Kagome. So much effort, so many sacrifices, and in the end it had still come to this. A glint caught her eye, and she saw that Kagome still held the cursed shard. Strangely, it seemed to Kaede that it glowed with the light of a purified jewel, but that must be her tired eyes playing tricks on her. Angrily she attempted to pry it out of Kagome's grip, but the younger woman had a strong hold on it, and her fingers proved stronger than Kaede's.

As Kaede paused to gather herself for another attempt, her mind suddenly registered what her ears had been hearing for awhile now—the sounds of battle, alarmingly close. She realized that she had been acting out of shock, instead of doing what she needed to be doing to insure her beloved Princess's safety. She scurried to her feet and, grabbing firm hold on Kagome, attempted to drag her back towards the Princess's quarters. By the time she was throughly out of breath, she'd only managed to move the girl a few inches. She wasn't going to be able to do this on her own. She debated whether she dared call out for help, risking discovery by the enemy, or if she dared leave Kagome to seek help.

The dilemma was quickly resolved, however, when Sango, Shippo and the Queen appeared, running, from the direction of the Princess's chambers. "There they are!" Shippo cried out. The trio crowded round.

Kaede's eyes immediately rose to meet the Queen's. The monarch's face had gone white and she stared down at her daughter with wide eyes. She swayed dangerously, but then caught hold of herself and did not faint. "It seems the curse has taken hold," she stated. "She is not dead?" she half questioned, half pleaded.

"She lives, your Highness," Kaede told her, and relief washed over the mother's features. "We need to move her into the Princess's quarters," she continued. "It's not safe here."

"Yes," said the Queen. Shippo bound into action, easily lifting Kagome. He strode off down the corridor, and the others quickly followed. The Queen trotted until she'd caught up with him, and took one of Kagome's hands to hold. She couldn't seem to take her eyes off her daughter's face.

As they approached the Princess's quarters, the soldiers grouped around it all looked in their direction. They immediately recognized the Queen and with sharp salutes opened a path for her to the Princess's door. Right before the doorway the Queen paused and turned, drawing Shippo to a stop with her. She faced the soldiers and gestured towards Kagome, who lied still in Shippo's arms. In a regal voice she announced, "Everyone, this is my daughter, Princess Kikyo. Through Naraku's curse she has fallen into an enchanted sleep. You are our last line of defense now. Please, guard her with your lives." As shocked murmurs ran through the guards, the Queen and her group entered the Princess's chambers.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Inuyasha had rarely traveled so far so fast. He'd covered the distance from his home to the Eastern Palace in a little over half the time it would have normally taken. It was quite a feat, then, for him to speed up when he saw smoke billowing up over the horizon from the direction of the palace. It was no surprise, when the palace came in view, to see it surrounded by hoards of lesser demons, but still his stomach lurched at the sight. Kagome was somewhere in that mess!

Portions of the wall were still being held by brave human defenders, but there were breaches everywhere. Demons poured over them and into the palace. Inuyasha aimed himself at one of these spots and dived into battle with reckless haste. He needed to get to Kagome as quickly as possible, and that meant carving a path through the attacking hoard. Tetsusaiga swung into action, slicing through demon flesh like it was no more substantial than mist. Inuyasha could feel his eyes bleeding red, but he welcomed the energy the rage brought. Distantly he realized that some of the dazzle before his eyes wasn't caused by the demon fury. With nearly every demon he sliced open, a glittering shikon jewel shard flew out. He seemed to recall someone in the past saying something about Naraku using the jewel shards to control an army of demons. His fuzzy thoughts couldn't pull to mind who'd said it, but it appeared they were right. His thoughts became less and less coherent as he lost himself in the glory of killing. He could feel the Tetsusaiga holding him back from completely loosing control, and with that help, his mind held tightly to just one thought: Kagome.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kagome lay on her Princess's bed, positioned as comfortably as the others could manage. Her breathing was regular and deep. She showed no signs of waking, even when the horrible sounds of fighting and killing arrived right outside the door. The Queen sat by her, still holding one of Kagome's hands, which she gently stroked as she murmured to the girl, telling her how much she'd missed her.

Sango, Shippo and Kaede stood in a line between the bed and the door. If the guards outside couldn't hold, they would be the final defenders. With each passing moment that seemed to be more and more likely to be a necessity. The sounds of battle were growing louder. A loud thump sounded, and Sango readied her weapons. Something large had just been thrown up against the wall next to the Princess's door. The next moment, the door was hit. It splintered and bowed inward. Another hit, and it burst off its hinges, skittering across the floor. It flew past Shippo, who neatly dodged it, and came to a stop on the far side of the room. Everyone's eyes focused on the demon at the doorway. Insect-like limbs grabbed hold of the wall to help it angle its long flat armored body so it could fit through the doorway. Once inside, its tail came up to curl over its back, the sharp barbed tip bobbing forward and back as it assessed its new surroundings.

"A scorpion demon," Shippo announced unnecessarily. Sango nodded. This was bad. Scorpion demons were notoriously hard to kill, on account of their heavily armored bodies. They were also fast, and their poison deadly. The guards had managed to get a couple spears lodged in the crack between two of the armor plates on the scorpion's body. There were ropes attached to the spears, which they'd been holding in an attempt to control the beast's movements. Instead, they'd been dragged in behind it. They scrambled to their feet and rushed to attack. More soldiers came in through the doorway and joined them. Ignoring them, the scorpion instead focused on the bed where Kagome lay. It rushed forward, attempting to reach the Princess. Sango and Shippo leaped to block its path, while Kaede quickly fired a purifying arrow towards it. The arrow embedded itself in the scorpion's eye. The beast squealed in pain and attacked with its poisoned tail. The barb was lightening fast, and in quick succession Sango, Shippo and Kaede were all punctured by it. Gasping in shock, they all went down. The two humans quickly lost consciousness as the poison spread through their bodies. Shippo's demon body wasn't affected as much, and he struggled back to his feet. "Fox fire!" he attacked. The scorpion drew back as the fire washed over it. Once the flames had spent themselves, it advanced, turning it's good eye towards Shippo. The beast attacked again before he could recover, and pierced the fox repeatedly with its poisoned barb. The additional poison overwhelmed him, and he too lost consciousness.

By this time the remaining guards had swarmed around the scorpion. Several of them hefted against the spears buried in it's flesh, attempting to pry up the armored plates. They got one lifted up, and one of them plunged his sword deeply into the beast. It struck a vital point. Gurgling a death cry, it lurched forward, once again dragging the soldiers with it. Its tail fell forward, towards the Princess's bed. The Queen saw it headed towards her daughter, and moved to intervene. She managed to push the tail's path away from Kagome, but the tip grazed the Queen's upraised arm as it fell. Overwhelmed by the poison entering her system, she fell to the ground.

The scorpion gave a last shudder, and then lay still. For a long moment, the only sound in the chamber was the heavy breathing of the exhausted guards. Then one of them stumbled to the doorway. In the hall, several women were tending the wounded. "Priestesses, we need your help," he told them. "The Queen and her advisors have been poisoned." Several of the women rushed forward into the room. They gathered in groups around the fallen. Soon the glow of purification surrounded them.

A commotion outside caught the attention of the soldier at the doorway. A palace courier had rushed up. "We're saved!" he proclaimed loudly. "The demon prince Inuyasha has come to our aid. He's slaughtering our attackers. Already the army is retreating! We're saved!"

One of the priestesses stumbled up to the guard. "We've done what we can," she told him. "The Queen and the others will live for now, but the poison was too strong for us. We need to find a stronger priestess to completely purify it."

"Saved?" said the guard, looking at their fallen leaders. "What sort of salvation is this?"

o

o

o

* * *

o

o

o

Ouch, that chapter turned out a bit violent. Only a couple chapters to go, I think. Thanks for reading!

-Silvanon


	24. Reunion

Disclaimer: Nope, they don't belong to me.

o

o

o

* * *

o

o

o

**Chapter 24: Reunion**

"Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled down the corridor. He paused for a moment, and the long stone hallway echoed back at him faintly, "Kagome!" The echo sounded hoarse, just like Inuyasha did. He'd done a lot of yelling since the battle had ended, now almost a full day ago. He still hadn't found Kagome.

He never would have imagined she'd be so hard to find. Normally his nose would have led him right to her. But the hard journey to the Eastern Palace, and the even harder battle he'd found waiting there, had zapped his strength and dulled his senses. Plus, it was hard to smell out one lone person among the overwhelming stench of decaying demons. He'd been over most of the Palace by now. He was determined to find the girl, but more and more a nagging worry was trying to push its way into his consciousness. "What if she's trying to avoid you?" it whispered. "What if she doesn't want to see you anymore? What if she hates you now?" The thought made Inuyasha irritable.

A small crowd of people followed Inuyasha. Some of them also called out Kagome's name, but most of them simply watched Inuyasha eagerly. A short, balding man dressed in fine, but dusty, clothing took advantage of the pause an approached the half demon. Inuyasha recognized him as the first person who'd started following him. He turned his face away.

"Um, sir," he said, trying to catch Inuyasha's eye. Failing that, he caught hold of one of Inuyasha's sleeves and tugged on it. "Sir? Sir? Your Highness? Please?" Inuyasha yanked his sleeve out of the man's grip. It was a mark of how long the man had been following him, and how bold he'd grown, that the man had been swilling to touch Inuyasha, much less tug on his sleeve. Yesterday, in the beginning, he'd slunk along at a good distance behind, and had squeaked and tried to hide himself behind furniture if Inuyasha happened to glance his way. It'd been a full three hours before the man had worked up the courage to stammer out his message from behind a corner. Apparently his failure to kill anyone had reassured the humans. Inuyasha started walking again. The small crowd of people billowed out behind him, doggedly following him still.

"Sir?" the man trotted to catch up to Inuyasha, and grabbed a hold of his sleeve a second time. "Please, it won't take long. Please come see the Princess."

Inuyasha abruptly leaped forward, twirling in midair so that he landed in a crouch, facing the group. The man had been caught off guard, and had been drug forward onto his knees as his grip on the sleeve was broken. Inuyasha snarled at the hapless follower and cracked the fingers of one hand, showing off his claws. Rather than cringing away, the man looked Inuyasha pleadingly in the eyes. "I know she'll wake up if you just kiss her. Please, your Highness! Please, save our Princess!"

Inuyasha struggled with himself for a long moment. He was tired, frustrated, sore all over, and terribly worried about Kagome, and this idiot wanted him to worry about some stupid princess? He reminded himself that it was his policy not to kill humans. Even ones as stupid as this guy. "I'm not going to go see your stupid princess, I'm not going to touch her, I'm definitely not going to go smooch her. Got it?!? All I'm interested in is finding Kagome!"

Not a one of the people following him batted an eye. They all staring at him, hope shining in their eyes. It seemed his feat in sending the demon army packing, and the fact that he hadn't attacked any humans, had convinced them that he was indeed there to save them. It was downright creepy. Inuyasha straightened and took off down the hall at a run. The scrambling sounds of various feet let him know that the humans were in pursuit, dragging their hopes in him along with them.

"Kagome, you idiot, where are you?!?" he wailed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Miroku had followed after Inuyasha as quickly as he was able. Being a human, he hadn't been able to keep up with Inuyasha's mad headlong pace, but he was still proud of the time he'd managed to make. He'd paused in a village long enough to hear how the grand hero, Prince Inuyasha of the West, had saved the Palace, and all the East with it, from a demon army as numerous as the sands of the sea, and how he was going to marry the Princess and protect the East forever more. Miroku suspected that the tales were somewhat inflated, and he was quite certain that Inuyasha would not be marrying the Princess, considering how he felt about Kagome. Still, it seemed his friend had been having some interesting adventures on his journey. He hoped that the half demon had managed a good reunion with Kagome. He also hoped the reunion had left his friend more or less in one piece.

At the Palace gates he was given a very warm reception when he announced himself as a friend of Prince Inuyasha. He also heard more of the story—how the palace had been all but overrun with the demon army when Inuyasha had arrived, and how he'd single handedly turned the tide of the battle. How the Princess had fallen to Naraku's curse and how everyone was sure Inuyasha would save her. And, how Inuyasha had been too late to keep the Queen, the chief Priestess Kaede, the councilor Shippo, and the captain of the guard, Sango, from falling prey to a scorpion demon's poison, and how even now they lay unconscious, waiting for someone with the still to rescue them. The guards at the gate seemed to believe that Inuyasha would somehow manage to rescue them as well, though how, Miroku couldn't begin to imagine. Bereft of the leaders who would normally take charge, the people had latched whole-heartedly onto Inuyasha. The guards cautioned Miroku that it was not yet known abroad that the Queen and the Princess were not well, and that the information was not to leave the Palace until they were whole again. Miroku quickly agreed, and asked if he might be taken to see the lovely Sango, with whom he was acquainted.

Miroku's heart twinged painfully when he saw Sango's face. Her features were drawn tight in pain, and her skin was pallid and dry to the touch. Her limbs moved restlessly under the blankets, but she didn't wake. She was much worse off than the guards had lead him to believe.

Miroku carefully took one of her hands, holding it firmly enough that her movements wouldn't dislodge it, and stretched out his spiritual senses. He immediately felt the presence of the poison in her system, and knew just as quickly that it was beyond his ability to purify. Gently he tucked Sango's hand back under the covers, and went to speak with the guards stationed at her doorway.

"I'm sure you're already aware that she suffers from a truly malicious poison," he said without preamble. "and that it will take someone of extraordinary power to purify it. What is being done to find and bring such a person?"

"Ah, well, I'm sure there'll be a proper search made as soon as we're able," replied one of the guards. "But all the Priestesses said they wouldn't die right away, and everyone thought it would be best if we waited until after Lord Inuyasha has woken up Princess Kikyo. That way when we send out the searchers, they can say that the Princess is all right, and people won't panic."

"I take it, then, that Inuyasha has not yet woken up the Princess?"

"Ah, no, not yet. He says he has to find some Kagome person first. There's a lot of people trying to convince him to leave off and kiss the Princess already, but I guess he's being a bit stubborn about it. Anyways, he's been searching the whole palace over, so he's sure to find her soon."

"I see," said Miroku shortly. "And where is Inuyasha now?"

"Last I heard he was in the southern basement," replied the guard. "I'll get someone to take you there."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Inuyasha hadn't managed to shake off the people following him. In fact, the crowd had grown even larger. He was getting rather desperate for a way to be rid of them. Normally he'd just leave the Palace altogether. It'd be easy to lose his pursuers once he was outside. But, he was convinced that Kagome was in here somewhere, and he couldn't leave until he found her Meanwhile, people kept popping up in every corridor he ran down, calling out thanks to him, and asking him to save the Princess. He wished Miroku were here. The monk would undoubtedly be able to come up with a way to get out of the situation.

No sooner had he thought of Miroku than he heard the monk's voice. "Miroku!" he shouted, and immediately headed towards where he'd heard the man speaking. He was so preoccupied with his problems that he failed to notice the angry glint in the monk's eye as he rushed up to him. "Miroku, there's a ton of people following me. They all want me to kiss their stupid Princess, and I can't find Kagome. You've got to help me!"

"Well, Inuyasha, if everyone wants you to kiss the Princess, then why don't you," said Miroku with an overly-cheerful smile.

"Wha..??" said Inuyasha, flummoxed. He drew back.

"Yes, yes, save the Princess!" said several humans, pressing in around them.

"But, but...Kagome!" stuttered Inuyasha.

Miroku grabbed Inuyasha by the hair and pulled him forward until he was right in the half demon's face. "Inuyasha, the most beautiful woman I've ever met is lying upstairs dying of poison, and no one will do anything about it until the Princess wakes up. So, you are going to march upstairs and you are going to kiss the Princess. And if she doesn't wake up, you're going to kiss her again. You are going to Wake. Her. UP!!"

Inuyasha's head bobbed up as Miroku released his hair, and he stared at his friend. "But...Kagome..." he said.

Miroku grabbed Inuyasha by one of his ears, and began marching him down the hallway. "Ow, ow, ow!" said Inuyasha.

The humans thronged around them, cheering. "Save the Princess!" they cried. "Lord Inuyasha is going to save the Princess!"

When they arrived at the Princess's chambers, Miroku practically threw Inuyasha into the room. "Do it!" he said, giving Inuyasha a steely look, pointing sternly towards the bed.

"Ow," Inuyasha grumbled, straightening up and rubbing his abused ear. "Miroku, what do you think you're..." he trailed off as he caught sight of Miroku's face. The former steely look had been replaced by...could it be amusement? Suddenly, somehow the monk looked like he was about to burst out laughing. Miroku raised a hand to cover his mouth, and a small snigger escaped. Within moments, the monk was down on the floor, rolling about with uncontrollable laughter.

"Hey, what's so funny?" Inuyasha complained, scowling.

Miroku raised a trembling finger and pointed towards the bed, before collapsing into laughter again. "Kiss her!" he gasped out. "You've got to...her!"

Inuyasha finally turned to see what had hit Miroku so funny. He froze. It felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over him. His whole body started shaking, and his legs gave out from under him. "Kagome!"

He sat on the floor for nearly a whole minute, letting the relief wash over him. He'd found her! Then confusion hit. What was she doing here?

People had been filing into the room in the meantime, and it was becoming rather crowded. The people didn't allow Inuyasha to remain where he was for long. They pressed in around him, pushing him to his feet and towards the bed. "The Princess," they murmured. "Kiss the Princess!" said a young man next to Inuyasha, and he eagerly helped propel Inuyasha forward.

"Wait a second!" said Inuyasha, digging in his heels. "That's not the Princess, that's Kagome."

"No, she's definitely Princess Kikyo," said a guard from nearby. "The Queen herself said so. I saw it."

"She can't be!" resisted Inuyasha.

"I think she is, Inuyasha," said Miroku, who had apparently recovered, and was also being pushed forward by the crowd. "Look at what she has in her hand. She's under the curse that Naraku put on Princess Kikyo."

Inuyasha looked at Kagome's hand, and saw the shikon jewel shard she was tightly holding. "She really is Princess Kikyo," he said in amazement. His legs felt like they wanted to buckle again. The crowd took advantage and pushed him forward. He fell forward onto the bed, just barely managing to catch himself from completely crushing Kagome.

He stared down at her for a long moment. Her face was smooth and calm. She looked like she was just taking a nap, like she'd wake any moment now. She was beautiful, he allowed himself to realize. Gently he brushed a finger down one side of her face, pushing aside a tendril of hair. "I have to kiss her," Inuyasha thought. He leaned down, his eyes closing.

Everyone in the crowded room gasped simultaneously, leaning in to see the kiss.

o

o

o

* * *

o

o

o

Aaaand, that's the end of that chapter. Hope you enjoyed reading it! See you next chapter:)

-Silvanon


	25. Princess

Disclaimer: Nope, they don't belong to me.

o

o

o

* * *

o 

o

o

**Chapter 25: Princess**

Inuyasha paused. His own lips were less that two inches away from Kagome's. He'd been mesmerized by them, had had no thought in his head but to kiss them, but something had interrupted him. Or someone, rather. A lot of someones. He could feel them all watching him intently. He blushed furiously, realizing that he'd been about to perform his first kiss in front of a room full of strangers.

He sat up straight and glared at them all. "I'm not doing this in front of you all!" he exclaimed. Everyone blinked at him in surprise for a few moments, and then the room started filling with the chatter of people commenting to each other. The majority of them had the grace to look at least look sheepish, but there were far too many grandmas with knowing smirks on their faces. No one moved to leave. "Out!" Inuyasha got up and started waving his arms at them. "Out, all of you, out!" Finally the crowd started moving, but it wasn't fast enough for Inuyasha, so he started pushing, herding them all towards the door. Finally all the strangers had left the room, and Inuyasha shut the door behind them. He could still hear the sounds of breathing from an extra person in the room, though, and a quick search revealed Miroku trying to hide behind a curtain. "You too!" Inuyasha firmly pointed him to the door.

"Inuyasha, surely you wouldn't ban your best friend from witnessing this important life event," Miroku said quickly.

As an answer, Inuyasha picked up the monk by his robes and hauled him to the door. He flung it open, then paused for a second to stare at the press of people standing in the hallway. The ones in front were trying to catch their balance after losing the door they'd been standing up against. Growling, Inuyasha shoved Miroku into the press, and shut the door again.

Inuyasha released a deep sigh. At last he was alone with Kagome. Then he felt his face heat up. He was alone with Kagome. Somehow he wished he could go back to the state of suspended thought he'd been in a few moments before, when he'd been about to kiss Kagome in front of everyone. He knew he still needed to kiss her, but somehow it had seemed much easier when his mind wasn't screaming at him about how embarrassing it was.

The suddenly empty room was having its effect, too. Everyone who'd been in here had been so certain that Inuyasha's kiss would wake the Princess. That confidence had infectiously filled the room, and with it pressed in all around him, Inuyasha had not thought to doubt. Now the room echoed empty, and, left to his own devices, Inuyasha discovered that he wasn't confident at all. What if he kissed her, and Kagome didn't wake up? After all, it was supposed to be the kiss of true love that would wake the Princess. Was what he felt for Kagome true love? And did she feel true love for him? To be honest, he wasn't sure at all what her feelings for him might be. He knew that he needed her in his life, but what if she didn't need him? What if she had forgotten about him already? What if she already had found herself a true love that wasn't him? Or, what if she didn't love anyone, and had no way to be awakened? Inuyasha wasn't certain which possibility would be worse, but both of them made him want to tear out his hair and howl in frustration.

He found himself pacing at the bedside, pausing every few seconds to look at Kagome, sometimes even going so far as to lean down over, before jerking back and going back to his pacing. Finally he admitted it to himself. He was sacred. If he couldn't wake Kagome, it would devastate him.

Finally he stopped and took a deep breath. He looked down at Kagome's beautiful face. His eyes traced over her soft lips. "I've just got to do it," he told himself. "I might fail if I try, but I'll definitely fail if I don't." He nodded sharply to himself, and, ignoring hot feeling of his face blushing scarlet, he bent down and gently pressed his lips to Kagome's.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kagome was dreaming. In her dream, she was reliving the day she'd left Inuyasha's palace to set out on her own. She'd arrived at the point where she'd fallen asleep against Shippo, but in the way of dreams, she was somehow still conscious of what was going on around her. She was aware of it when Inuyasha arrived and started talking to Shippo and Sango about her. The two told Inuyasha how she was going to the Eastern Palace to help protect Princess Kikyo, and then dream-Inuyasha remarked how that was good, he didn't need her hanging around anyway, when he was going to marry the Princess instead. He left, laughing an evil, rackus sort of laugh as he went. In her dream Kagome called out to him, but he just kept laughing and leaving.

Kagome was plunged into the deep forest again. She was alone—Sango and Shippo seemed to have disappeared. She wandered for what seemed like hours. After long while, she started to feel a presence hanging over her. She didn't recognize it at first, but she was tired and heartbroken, and wanted to be alone rather than pestered by mysterious presences. Frowning, she tried to hurry away from it, but it kept following her. Gradually she recognized it; the presence was definitely Inuyasha. She couldn't see him, it was more like a feeling of him watching her, but she knew it was him. Kagome started feeling angry. How dare he break her heart, leave her, and then continue to hover around her like this! He had no right! The ultimate insult came when she suddenly felt him kissing her lips. Kagome exploded into fury. How dare he?!? Gathering all her might, she struck out, futilely trying to slap the nebulous Inuyasha-presence.

Her hand connected.

Her eyes flew open.

"Ow!" Inuyasha was reeling back from her, his hand covering his slap-brightened cheek. Kagome looked down at her hand, which was also red from the contact. It stung a bit. "What was that for?!?" Inuyasha demanded angrily.

Still caught in the mood of her dream, Kagome responded back heatedly. "How dare you leave me like that!"

"Huh," thought Inuyasha, "she's mad that I took so long to find her and wake her up?" Out loud, he responded, "Look, I'm sorry, but I wasn't trying to leave you. I was looking for you all over, I just didn't know where to find you!"

"What do you mean you didn't know where to find me? You knew very well where to find me. You're the one who left me!" Kagome retorted.

"I didn't leave you!," Inuyasha insisted. "I was working my butt off trying to find you! I didn't sleep, I didn't eat, I spent this whole time trying to find you!"

"But why did you leave me in the first place? And the things you said! You broke my heart!" Kagome turned away from Inuyasha and started sobbing.

"What? What things? I didn't say anything!" Inuyasha said, horror-struck at her tears. Kagome tried to say something back, but it was incomprehensible through her hiccuping and crying. Exasperated, Inuyasha started feeling angry himself. "Look, if you wanted so badly for me to find you quicker, then why didn't you just _tell me that you were the Princess!"_ he ended in a shout.

Kagome stopped crying and turned a death-glare on Inuyasha. "Don't make fun of me," she snarled in a low voice. "You said you didn't need me because you were going to marry the Princess."

"I never said that!" exclaimed Inuyasha. "And how could I say I 'don't need you because I'm marrying the Princess' if you ARE the Princess?!?"

Kagome shoved her face into Inuyasha's. "I AM NOT THE PRINCESS!"

"YES YOU ARE!" Inuyasha roared back.

"NO, I'M NOT!!"

"If you're not the Princess, then how come everyone in the palace thinks you are? Huh? And how come you feel under Naraku's spell, and how come you woke up when I kissed you?"

Kagome opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She tried again. "You're..." she paused. She sat back, and looked around the room. Bewilderment crossed her features. "This isn't the forest," she said slowly.

"Of course it isn't," Inuyasha said, frowning at her.

Kagome spent a moment studying the fancy bed she was sitting on, and then staring at the fancy room with its rich furnishings. "Where are we?" she asked, finally.

"You done yelling at me?" said Inuyasha crossly. When Kagome nodded, still distractedly looking around the room, he sighed and let the tension drain out of him. He settled himself on the bed next to her. "We're in the Eastern Palace, remember? You've been here for over a month, ever since you left me to go with Sango and Shippo to come protect the Princess. Or, I guess really it was to come be the Princess."

"You're the one who left me," Kagome replied with a small frown, finally turning her attention back to him. "And what do you mean, be the Princess?"

Inuyasha let her comment slide, focusing instead on her question. "You mean you really don't know?" Kagome shook her head slowly. "I'm surprised they didn't tell you," he said. "I wonder what they were thinking? But, anyway, Kagome," Inuyasha paused, and, barely blushing at all, took her hand. "There's really no doubt about it. You are Princess Kikyo."

There was a long pause. Finally, Kagome asked in a quavering voice, "Really?"

"Yeah, really."

There was another long pause. Inuyasha studiously watched his hand, still holding Kagome's. Every so often her fingers would twitch a little. He avoided raising his eyes to see her expression.

"So, I really fell under Naraku's spell?"

Inuyasha nodded, and Kagome realized now that she did have some sort of memory like that, now that her head was beginning to clear.

"And you really did kiss me awake again?" Kagome's emotions were still reeling, but she couldn't help her lips pulling into a small smile when she saw Inuyasha's face blush deep red. He nodded, ducking his head and hiding his eyes behind his bangs. His fingers tightened around her hand.

Kagome felt herself blushing too. She blushed even more when a small voice in the back of her head suggested it was too bad she hadn't been awake for it. The voice then suggested something that surprised Kagome so much that she immediately repeated it out loud. "Then, if I'm the Princess, that means we're betrothed to be married?"

A jolt ran through Inuyasha at her words, and something happy and excited started fluttering around inside him. "Yes," he finally managed to choke out.

The scent of salt and water startled him into looking at Kagome. Tears were running down her cheeks. "Uh, um, but, only if you want to be. I mean, if you have some other guy you'd rather be with, I won't force you to marry me," Inuyasha quickly backpedaled. "I don't want you to be unhappy," he finished, feeling lame.

Kagome shook her head and smiled. "I must still be dreaming, but I don't think I want to wake up." She locked eyes with Inuyasha, and they spent a long time staring at each other. After a minute, a blush stole across Kagome's cheeks, and a playful light entered her eyes. "You know," she said, "it really isn't fair that you got to be awake for our first kiss, when I wasn't. I think you owe me another one."

Inuyasha blushed the deepest red she'd seen yet, and spent a few minutes looking everywhere but her.

"Hmmm?" probed Kagome, while trying to catch his eye. "You going to pay up, or what?"

Inuyasha kept his head ducked, still refusing to look her in the eye, but he lifted a hand and ran his fingers through her hair, and then in a rush closed in and kissed her. The approach was quick, but the kiss itself was long.

Finally they pulled apart. Kagome's hand found Inuyasha's again, and they intertwined fingers. They both sat there for a moment, staring into space with goofy smiles.

A noise at the door finally drew them out of their reverie. "What was that?" asked Kagome.

"Oh, that's probably all the people standing outside," realized Inuyasha.

"Huh?" said Kagome.

Inuyasha chuckled a little. "Prepare yourself," he told her. "There's a lot of people out there who're really anxious to meet you."

Kagome took a long look at Inuyasha's suddenly mischievous face, and wondered what was in store for her.

"Come on, Kagome," he said, standing up and pulling her to her feet. "If we keep them waiting too long they might break down the door." Inuyasha paused for a second, then said, "Oh, um, sorry, I guess maybe I should call you Princess Kikyo now."

"No, Kagome is fine," she replied immediately. "That's the name I'm used to. I think it's going to take me awhile to figure out this whole princess thing."

"Well, don't worry Kagome," said Inuyasha, "I'll be with you. You'll get the hang of it in no time."

With that, he drew her towards the door, which he flung open once they reached it. Several people immediately fell sprawling into the room. Behind them, masses of people crowded the hallway. As soon as they caught sight of her, their faces broke into beaming smiles. They dropped to the ground in low bows to her. "Princess!" they said.

o

o

o

* * *

o 

o

o

Thanks everyone for reading! We're not quite done yet, so please look forward to the next chapter!

-Silvanon


	26. Afterwards

Disclaimer: Nope, they don't belong to me.

o

o

o

* * *

o

o

o

**Chapter 26: Afterwards**

The whole Palace was filled with rejoicing over the return of their own dear Princess Kikyo. The festivities seemed like they would go on forever, but, in truth, they weren't complete. It was soon remembered that while they had their Princess back, their Queen and those closest to her were still in grave danger. It was a solemn party that led the Princess to see the woman she now knew to be her mother. To Kagome, looking down at the Queen's pallid face as she lay upon her bed, it seemed she had both gained and lost a mother all at once. It was worse for her to see the woman who had raised her, Kaede, lying in the same condition. Her newfound happiness seemed to melt away at the sight.

The soldiers guarding them related to Kagome how they had fallen protecting her, and how all the priestesses had done their best to heal them, and had failed. Kagome felt despair touching her heart when she heard the tale, but Inuyasha, in his usual argumentative and bullying manner, refused to let her give up, insisting that she could heal them herself. He had a confidence in her purifying powers that she didn't share, but it seemed his faith was well founded—with her power-filled touch, they regained their color, and soon awoke. Kagome healed the Queen, Kaede, and Sango. She worried over how to heal Shippo, who might be purified by her powers as much as the poison, but a light brush of her fingers across his face proved to clear the poison enough that his body was able to do the rest of the healing, and he too soon returned to consciousness.

Kagome spent the next several hours attending to those who had been injured during the battle, especially those who had received poisonous wounds. When she was done, the Palace celebrated in earnest.

Two weeks later a delegation arrived from the West, including Inuyasha's father, Inutaisho, and his brother Sesshoumaru. The entire countryside was filled with the story of the Priestess Kagome, who had really been Princess Kikyo, and how she and the Western Prince Inuyasha had met and fallen in love before they found out that they'd been betroved since her birth. Inutaisho smiled at the story, put aside the carefully composed words he'd prepared to break off his son's engagement, and instead prepared to attend a wedding. The delegation found the Eastern Palace bustling with preparations. Inuyasha they found being lauded as hero wherever he went, much to his continued dismay (and Miroku's amusement), and Kagome busily correcting anyone who attempted to call her Kikyo.

The wedding was performed a month later. Those who attended, which was pretty much everyone, would recall years later how resplendent the decorations were, how delicious the food, how beautiful the clothing of the attendees, and how the happy couple had been so busy looking at each other that they hadn't noticed any of it.

Many citizens from the West also came to attend, and the occasion was generally remembered as the first time that humans and demons peacefully mingled together to any great degree. It was even remarked how the Prince's brother Sesshoumaru, who had been previously been noted for his harsh views against humans, seemed to tolerate them better than anyone had expected. Rumor had it this was due in large part to a growing attachment to the young human girl who had volunteered to serve him during his stay in the Eastern Palace. The child had been orphaned during the battle, and seemed to have adopted Sesshoumaru as something of a father-figure. There was little surprise, then, that when the Western delegation finally left for home, little Rin went with them.

Humans and demons worked together to destroy the remnants of Naraku's army. Any jewel shard they found was brought to Princess Kagome for purification and safe keeping. The land became safe again, as it had not been safe since Naraku's curse. No one, however, could find Naraku himself. Kagome and Inuyasha finally resolved that they would simply have to wait and watch, that they might be prepared for the next time the evil being made his appearance. And so, they lived happily, and sometimes loudly – the palace staff, and later the couple's children, learned to take cover when the pair started raising their voices at each other – ever after.

o

o

o

* * *

o

o

o

Awe, short little chapter to wrap everything up. Thanks so much to everyone who came and read my little story. :) Your reviews have been awesome, they're definitely what kept me going on this. Thanks again!

-Silvanon


End file.
